President Joe Biden will nominate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the U.S. Supreme Court, elevating an African American woman for the first time to a seat on the high court bench, ABC News has learned.
Judge Jackson, 51, currently sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, to which she was appointed by Biden and confirmed by the Senate last year with Republican support.
Her historic nomination fulfills a promise Biden made during the 2020 campaign ahead of the South Carolina primary, when he relied heavily on support from the state’s Black voters. It’s also the first opportunity for Biden, a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to help shape a Court that has grown sharply more conservative in recent years, even if his appointment will not alter the current ideological balance.
Jackson, a former clerk to retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, has more than eight years experience on the federal bench, following a path through the judiciary traveled by many nominees before her. She also would be the first federal public defender to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court and the first justice since Thurgood Marshall to have criminal defense experience.
Democrats have the votes to confirm Jackson without Republican support, but President Biden has said he hopes to win over some members of the other party.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images/POOL
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden is expected to nominate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, elevating an African American woman for the first time to a seat on the high court bench, ABC News has learned.
Judge Jackson, 51, currently sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to which she was named by Biden and confirmed by the Senate last year with Republican support.
Her historic nomination fulfills a promise Biden made during the 2020 presidential campaign ahead of the South Carolina primary when he relied heavily on support from the state’s Black voters.
It’s also the first opportunity for Biden, a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to help shape a Court that has grown sharply more conservative in recent years, even if his appointment will not alter the current ideological balance.
Jackson, a former clerk to retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, has more than eight years experience on the federal bench, following a path through the judiciary traveled by many nominees before her.
All but four justices appointed in the last 50 years have come from a federal appeals court, including three current justices — Brett Kavanaugh, John Roberts and Clarence Thomas — from the D.C. Circuit.
Born in D.C. but raised in Miami, Jackson comes from an elite legal pedigree as a graduate of Harvard Law School but also has experience representing everyday Americans in the legal system as a federal public defender.
“Public service is a core value in my family,” Judge Jackson testified last year.
She would be the first federal public defender to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court and the first justice since Thurgood Marshall to have criminal defense experience.
Jackson has been vetted and confirmed by the Senate three times – twice for appointments to the federal bench, a third time for a seat on the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Not since Justice Clarence Thomas was nominated in 1991 has a Supreme Court candidate been scrutinized by the Senate as many times.
“I think she’s qualified for the job. She has a different philosophy than I do, but it’s been that way the whole time,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said of Jackson last year. He was one of three GOP Senators, including Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, who voted to confirm Jackson to the U.S. Court of Appeals.
President Biden has long admired, respected and helped elevate Jackson, sources say. It was the Obama-Biden administration that first appointed her to the federal bench in 2013. Last year, Biden met one-on-one with Jackson at the White House before nominating her to the D.C. Circuit. The two met again in recent days, sources said.
The president is impressed by her “experience in roles at all levels of the justice system, her character and her legal brilliance,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said this month.
Jackson has won praise from grassroots progressive, civil rights and legal groups, particularly for her work as vice chair of the bipartisan U.S. Sentencing Commission between 2010 and 2014, when she played a key role in major criminal justice reforms.
Jackson joined a unanimous vote to reduce federal sentencing guidelines for some nonviolent drug offenders and make the changes retroactive — moves backed by members of both parties.
“In my view, that of a civil rights lawyer and advocate who is committed to bringing justice, respect, and fairness to this nation, and particularly to my community, that woman is Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson,” civil rights attorney Ben Crump told ABC News.
On the bench, her jurisprudence has widely been considered mainstream and measured, legal scholars say. She authored 600 opinions while on the U.S. District Court for D.C.; only 12 were reversed, according to data compiled by the Alliance for Justice, a progressive legal advocacy group.
One of her most high-profile decisions came in the 2019 case of former White House Counsel Don McGahn, who was contesting a congressional subpoena for testimony. Then-District Court Judge Jackson wrote a 118-page ruling ordering McGahn to testify, concluding that “presidents are not kings” and could not assert universal executive privilege over former aides.
Earlier this month, Judge Jackson published her first appeals court opinion — a unanimous decision in favor of a large union of federal government workers contesting new federal labor guidelines that would have made collective bargaining more difficult. Jackson concluded the changes were “arbitrary and capricious” in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.
Late last year, Judge Jackson joined a unanimous appeals court panel decision rejecting former President Donald Trump’s attempt to shield his records from review by the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. The decision recently affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Jackson’s former colleagues and associates describe her approach as “Breyer-esque,” qualities Biden has explicitly sought to replicate on the bench: moderate, pragmatic, and a consensus-builder.
“She believes the judiciary should be accessible and transparent,” said Sanchi Khare, who clerked for Judge Jackson in 2019. “She really feels that people who come to the court or who interact with the judicial system, whether they are civil or criminal parties, that they feel heard and that the court is considering their arguments.”
Rachel Barkow, an NYU law professor, former Harvard classmate of Jackson and former member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, predicted Jackson could help “dial down the temperature” around the Court if confirmed.
“She is not someone who is a firebrand off on her own, creating and doing new things which I don’t think she should be doing as a lower court judge,” Barkow told ABC. “I think she absolutely on the merits should be a person who appeals to people of all political stripes.”
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said this week that the nominee will be “respectfully treated and thoroughly vetted.” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Sunday that his party will not engage in “personal slime attacks” but will scrutinize the candidate’s record.
Democrats have the votes to confirm Jackson without Republican support, but President Biden has said he hopes to win over some members of the other party.
During her appeals court confirmation hearing last year, Republicans questioned Jackson on issues of race; ties to progressive legal groups; her rulings against the Trump administration; the impact of sentencing reductions; and her work as a public defender for Guantanamo detainees.
She could also face questions about her affiliation with Harvard University – both as an alumna and member Board of Overseers – ahead of a major lawsuit challenging the school’s use of race-based Affirmative Action in admissions that will be heard by the Supreme Court later this year.
The president’s allies on Capitol Hill and among Democratic grassroots groups have begun mobilizing to promote and defend the nominee, gearing up for a media blitz to mark both the historic nature of the nomination and counter expected Republican attacks, some of which have already been racially-charged.
The White House is expected to highlight Jackson’s personal story as the embodiment of the American Dream.
“Her Miami roots will afford her valuable perspective on the rights and lives of the people who come before the court,” members of the Cuban American Bar Association wrote in a letter to the president this month.
Jackson attended Miami-Dade public schools. Her mother was a public high school principal in the county, while her father was a teacher and later county school board attorney. Her younger brother — her only sibling — served in the military and did tours in combat. Two uncles have been law enforcement officers.
Her husband, Patrick Jackson, is a surgeon in the Washington, D.C., area, where together they have raised two daughters.
“It’s a story of someone who’s always been very hard working, who has not had things handed to her, who has worked for all the things that she’s achieved,” Barkow said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Amanda Kloots, host of CBS’ The Talk, announced on Thursday that she tested positive for COVID-19 following a recent trip to Mexico.
Kloots — whose husband, Nick Cordero, died of COVID-related complications in July 2020 — also confirmed that she would be missing The Talk while she quarantines.
“My @thetalkcbs family! Unfortunately I tested positive for COVID and will be missing some days at work until my quarantine is over,” Kloots, 39, shared on Instagram. “I am feeling completely normal now and feel very grateful for that. I am vaccinated and boosted which is very much putting me at ease.”
“I recently got back from a trip to Mexico where I tested negative before I left and before I flew home so this was [a] surprise this morning,” she continued. “This is the first time I’ve tested positive since the pandemic.”
Kloots went on to say that she plans on using her time in quarantine to potty-train her two-year-old son, Elvis Eduardo, whom she shared with Cordero.
“I will hopefully be back to work soon but taking this time at home with Elvis to start potty training!!!!” Kloots wrote. “Wish me luck as I run after a naked toddler for the next three days. Any advice please share below.”
Sean Penn is on the ground in Ukraine filming a documentary about Russia’s ongoing invasion of the country.
The Office of the President of Ukraine released a statement on Facebook Thursday praising the Oscar-winning actor for his work.
“The director specially came to Kyiv to record all the events that are currently happening in Ukraine and to tell the world the truth about Russia’s invasion of our country,” reads the translated statement. “Sean Penn is among those who support Ukraine in Ukraine today. Our country is grateful to him for such a show of courage and honesty.”
The statement also notes that the actor, who visited the country back in 2021 in “preparation” for the documentary, also attended a press briefing the Office of the President on Thursday, and spoke with journalists and the military.
“Sean Penn demonstrates the courage that many others, including Western politicians, lack. The more such people in our country now, true friends of Ukraine, who support the struggle for freedom, the sooner it will be possible to stop Russia’s treacherous attack,” the statement continues.
Penn is no stranger to anti-war and humanitarian operations. The 2020 Discovery+ documentary Citizen Penn chronicled his efforts setting up the non-profit organization Community Organized Relief Effort, also known as CORE, in response to the Haiti earthquakes of 2010. CORE also assisted with the COVID-19 response in the United States.
Niecy Nash and Jessica Betts are making history as the first same-sex couple to grace the cover of Essence magazine.
Nash, 52, and Betts, 39, who wed in 2020, appear on the March/April cover of magazine topless as they lovingly gaze at each others’ faces. Now, the two are opening up about the historic cover and the powerful message behind it.
“What I am hoping happens with our cover is that it will normalize people just loving who they love and not having to explain it or defend it but just do it,” Nash told Entertainment Tonight on Thursday.
Betts shared the same sentiment, adding, “Spreading love and supporting each other, you know, it’s a beautiful thing to be able to support each other…so I think this message is very clear that we should love and support each other regardless of our race, gender, or sexualities.”
In the cover story, Nash says of her wife, “The least of my attraction is gender…What I was and am still attracted to is Jessica’s soul. She was the most beautiful soul I had ever met in my life. Now that I’ve experienced it, I can’t imagine going through life without it.”
The March/April 2022 “Black Women in Hollywood” issue of Essence hits newsstands March 1.
Actress Sally Kellerman, best known for her Oscar-nominated portrayal of U.S. Army Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan in Robert Altman’s 1970 black comedy M*A*S*H, died Thursday at a Los Angeles assisted care facility after a battle with dementia, her son, Jack Krane, tells The Hollywood Reporter. She was 84. Kellerman also had memorable roles in the second Star Trek pilot episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” in which she portrayed Dr. Elizabeth Dehner, a Starfleet officer aboard the USS Enterprise. She played free-spirited college literature professor Diane Turner, the love interest of Rodney Dangerfield’s obnoxious businessman, Thornton Melon, in 1986’s Back to School. Kellerman also guest-starred on numerous 1960s TV shows, including The Outer Limits, 12 O’Clock High, Ben Casey, That Girl and Mannix, and was a familiar and prolific voice-over talent, narrating commercials for Mercedes-Benz, Revlon and Hidden Valley Ranch…
Quentin Tarantino is in early talks to direct one or two episodes of Justified: City Primeval, sources tell Deadline. The followup to the FX crime drama Justified stars Timothy Olyphant, reprising his role as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens. Tarantino and Olyphant worked together on the director’s most recent film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The show returns to Givens’ story eight years after he left Kentucky and now is based in Miami, balancing life as a marshal and part-time father of a 14-year-old girl. Justified ran from 2010-2015, was nominated for eight Emmys, winning two, in the Guest Actor category for actress Margo Martindale and actor Jeremy Davies…
SEAL Team star Max Thieriot has been tapped for the lead role in the CBS drama pilot Cal Fire, according to Variety. Thieriot reportedly co-wrote the story for the series, which is inspired by his life growing up in Northern California. He will also serve as an executive producer in the hope that Thieriot will be able to star in both series should Cal Fire gets picked up. Cal Fire follows young convict Bode Donovan who, along with other inmates, works alongside firefighters in return for redemption and shortened prison sentences…
Deadline reports that Grey’s Anatomy regular Richard Flood, who has played Dr. Cormac Hayes for the past three seasons, is leaving the long-running medical drama. In Thursday’s midseason premiere, Hayes handed Bailey his resignation and told her that he was returning to Ireland with his kids. Flood’s final episode will reportedly air next week…
(NEW YORK) — The streets of several major cities across the globe transformed into seas of blue and yellow Ukrainian flags on Thursday. Protesters are demanding action from their local leaders regarding the Russian invasion into Ukraine, which has already claimed dozens of lives.
In New York City, hundreds of protesters marched to and gathered at Times Square, the Russian Mission and United Nations buildings in support of Ukraine amid the Russian attacks.
The city is home to the largest Ukrainian community in the U.S., with more than 150,000 Ukrainians residing across the region.
In Washington, D.C., protesters marched to the White House, as well as to the Russian embassy, to demand action from President Joe Biden. According to Washington ABC affiliate WJLA, a demonstrator painted the word “murder” on the sidewalk in front of the embassy building.
Protests also took place in Chicago.
In London, hundreds of protesters gathered outside Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office and the Russian Embassy carrying Ukrainian flags. Russians, Ukrainians and other protesters joined together in calls against the military invasion.
Berlin’s most famous landmark, The Brandenburg Gate, was lit in the yellow and blue colors of Ukraine in support of the country under siege. Thousands also marched through the city’s streets in support of Ukrainians.
In Paris, the City Hall was also lit up in support of Ukraine. Marches also took place throughout the city.
In Moscow, anti-war protesters spoke out against their own country, as Russian military forces continued to lay siege to their neighboring country. More than a thousand protesters were arrested in a sign of the totalitarian nature of Russia’s government. Protests also broke out in Saint Petersburg.
Protests also took place in Spain, Lebanon, Austria, The Netherlands, Poland and more.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg hold a joint press conference following a meeting in Kiev on October 31, 2019. – SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Ukraine is not a member of NATO, though the international security alliance has been a key player in its ongoing conflict with Russia, which escalated to a full-scale invasion by Russian forces Thursday.
Since the United States helped form NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, in 1949 to counter Soviet aggression in Europe, the alliance has grown to 30 member countries, including three former Soviet republics — the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
In 2008, NATO appeared to open the door to membership to two more former Soviet republics when its heads of government declared that Georgia and Ukraine “will become members of NATO.”
Neither have formally received a pathway to eventual membership, with corruption concerns and a lack of consensus among members seen in part as holding back Ukraine’s invitation. Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded that Ukraine never join the alliance as he seeks to limit NATO’s presence in Eastern Europe.
Putin’s military operation has prompted NATO allies, worried about further escalation, to issue sanctions meant to impact the Russian economy, bolster troops along the alliance’s Eastern flank and repeatedly warn that an attack on one NATO member is an attack on all.
In the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, President Joe Biden announced that NATO will convene a summit Friday to “affirm our solidarity and to map out the next steps we will take to further strengthen all aspects of our NATO alliance.”
Biden said repeatedly said the U.S. won’t be sending troops to engage with Russia in Ukraine, though he has recently authorized the deployment of ground and air forces in Europe to support NATO’s eastern flank allies — Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania — in response to Russian aggression. Following Thursday’s attack on Ukraine, Biden said he has authorized additional forces to deploy to Germany as part of NATO’s response. According to a senior Defense Department official, 7,000 service members will be deployed to Germany in the coming days.
“Our forces are not going to Europe to fight in Ukraine but to defend our NATO allies and reassure those allies in the East,” Biden said during an address Thursday. “As I made crystal clear, the United States will defend every inch of NATO territory with the full force of American power.”
Article 5 commitments
During a video address days before he announced a military operation in Ukraine, Putin linked the current crisis directly to Russia’s NATO demands, which include a guarantee that NATO stop expanding to the East and pull back its infrastructure from Eastern European countries that joined after the Cold War. He accused the U.S. and NATO of ignoring Russia’s demands and blamed the West for the current crisis in Ukraine.
The potential impact of the Ukraine conflict on U.S. interests is considered “significant,” by the Council on Foreign Relations, which said in part that the conflict “risks further deterioration of U.S.-Russia relations and greater escalation if Russia expands its presence in Ukraine or into NATO countries.”
“I think we shouldn’t get fixated only on Ukraine,” Doug Lute, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO and ABC News contributor, told ABC News Live following Putin’s speech. “[Putin’s] ambitions beyond that are to essentially rewind the clock 30 years and reverse the progress made in Western Europe, certainly Central and Eastern Europe, and if possible, break the ties between the United States and its European allies.”
Were the conflict to go beyond Ukraine and impact NATO members, that could lead the organization to invoke its mutual self-defense clause — what’s known as Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which states that “an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all.” If one ally is attacked, the others will respond with necessary action, including armed force, “to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.”
The first and only time NATO invoked Article 5 was in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, in support of the U.S. On Thursday, Biden said the U.S. and its NATO allies “will meet our Article 5 commitments” if necessary in response to Russian aggression, though they are seeking to deescalate the conflict through increased sanctions.
“If [Putin] did move into NATO countries, we will be involved,” Biden told reporters. “The only thing that I am convinced of is — if we don’t stop now, he’ll be emboldened. If we don’t move against him now with these significant sanctions, he will be emboldened.”
U.S. officials see Article 5 as another deterrent for any further Russian aggression.
“Is it a possibility that Putin goes beyond Ukraine? Sure, it’s a possibility, but there’s something very powerful standing in the way of that — that’s something we call Article 5 of NATO,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview with ABC’s David Muir on Thursday. “The president’s been very clear that we will defend every inch of NATO territory. I think that’s the most powerful deterrent against President Putin going beyond Ukraine.”
Cyberattack question
One “gray area” around NATO’s Article 5 response is Russian cyberattacks and their impacts beyond Ukraine, according to U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who oversees the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
“The real deal is if they suddenly decide to shut down all the power in Ukraine, chances are that may shut down the power in eastern Poland, where American and NATO troops are located,” Warner told reporters Thursday. “If they shut down the hospital systems in Poland, and people die because you can’t operate, we are suddenly outside of the hypothetical realm of what could constitute what’s called an Article 5 violation, where if you attack one NATO nation, you attack all 30 NATO nations. And these hypotheticals become a reality.”
If Russia responds to NATO allies’ sanctions with cyberattacks, “we are again going into uncharted territory,” he said.
Last year, NATO said the alliance would consider whether to invoke Article 5 in response to a cyberattack “on a case-by-case basis.”
When asked by ABC White House correspondent MaryAlice Parks on Thursday if the White House thought a cyberattack against a NATO member would trigger an Article 5 response, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that’d be a “point of discussion.”
“That, again, is up to the NATO alliance to determine, but obviously a cyberattack does constitute an attack, so that would certainly be a point of discussion among the NATO members,” she said.
ABC News’ Ben Gittleson and Patrick Reevell contributed to this report.
Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden will attend an emergency NATO summit Friday morning from the White House Situation Room to coordinate next steps with Western allies as Russian President Vladimir Putin wages a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Biden said in an address Thursday that NATO would meet to “affirm our solidarity and to map out the next steps we will take to further strengthen all aspects of our NATO alliance.”
He also announced escalated sanctions to correspond with the escalated Russian aggression, but not the full economic punishment Ukraine and others have called for and none yet on Putin himself, although he did say that option was “not a bluff. It’s on the table.”
“He has much larger ambitions than Ukraine,” Biden warned of the Russian leader. “He wants to, in fact, re-establish the former Soviet Union. That’s what this is about. And I think that his ambitions are completely contrary to the place where the rest of the world has arrived.”
Pressed on why the U.S. hasn’t gone further with sanctions, Biden said that some decisions must be made in unison with European allies — signaling more sanctions may follow Friday’s meeting of NATO’s 30 member countries.
“The sanctions that we are proposing on all their banks have the equal consequence, maybe more consequence than SWIFT, number one. Number two, it is always an option but right now that’s not the position that the rest of Europe wishes to take,” Biden said, referring to an international messaging system that allows large financial institutions to send money to each other.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is set to offer public opening remarks on Friday and hold a news conference at the conclusion of the meeting, both of which will be live-streamed on ABC News Live.
Biden reiterated on Thursday that U.S. troops would not be involved in the fight against Russia in Ukraine, but he did announce that he will deploy more forces to Germany, including some of the 8,500 troops in the U.S. that have been on a “heightened alert,” and said he is open to sending additional troops elsewhere in Europe.
“Our forces are not going to Europe to fight in Ukraine but to defend our NATO allies and reassure those allies in the East,” Biden said. “As I made crystal clear, the United States will defend every inch of NATO territory with the full force of American power.”
Throughout the crisis, Biden has maintained U.S. involvement is about fulfilling a responsibility to defend NATO allies — and democracy around the world.
“America stands up to bullies,” Biden said Thursday. “We stand up for freedom. This is who we are.”
ABC News’ Luis Martinez contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The House Oversight and Reform Committee on Friday expanded its investigation into former President Donald Trump’s White House records, requesting new information from the National Archives about the classified materials Trump took to his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida after leaving office — as well as those records Trump is alleged to have ripped up in the White House.
In a new letter to National Archivist David Ferriero, committee chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., requested a “detailed” inventory of the 15 boxes of White House records the National Archives retrieved from Mar-a-Lago, as well as “all presidential records” that the agency discovered Trump had “torn up, destroyed, mutilated, or attempted to tear up, destroy, or mutilate” while in office.
“I am deeply concerned that former President Trump may have violated the law through his intentional efforts to remove and destroy records that belong to the American people,” Rep. Maloney wrote in a letter obtained by ABC News. “This Committee plans to get to the bottom of what happened and assess whether further action is needed to prevent the destruction of additional presidential records and recover those records that are still missing.”
The National Archives previously informed Maloney that some of the Trump White House documents the former president took to Florida were marked classified, and that the agency had notified the Justice Department of the matter.
The Justice Department has not said whether it has opened a formal investigation into the referral from the Archives. At a news conference on Tuesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the department would “look at the facts and the law” in evaluating the documents.
In her letter Friday, Maloney also requested any documents or records related to White House employees or contractors “finding paper in a toilet in the White House” and the president’s residence — a reference to New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman’s reporting that White House staff believed Trump periodically flushed papers down the toilet to dispose of them.
Trump has denied that he destroyed any documents, and has further denied any misconduct regarding the documents that were retrieved from Florida by the National Archives and Records Administration.
“The media’s characterization of my relationship with NARA is Fake News. It was exactly the opposite!” Trump said in a statement to ABC News. “It was a great honor to work with NARA to help formally preserve the Trump Legacy.”
More broadly, the Oversight committee on Friday signaled plans to investigate the Trump White House’s handling of the Presidential Records Act and its enforcement in the West Wing, after the National Archives informed Congress that some social media records were not preserved, and that some staff used non-official electronic messaging accounts for official business.
The committee’s probe is on a parallel track to the investigation being carried out by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
