WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — History is being made this week in our nation's capital. The confirmation process for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve as a Supreme Court Justice is underway.
"That nominee is brought to the Senate for hearings, and it starts with the Senate Judiciary Committee, and then they move to a full vote with the Senate," said Benjamin Kantak, a political science professor at Lycoming College. "If the Senate confirms the nominee, then the nominee takes the seat."
Judge Jackson is the first black woman to be nominated to serve on the Supreme Court. Newswatch 16 spoke to people in the political science department at Lycoming College about this achievement.
"Everybody kind of knows now that's going to be a change on the scene of the court if it happens," added Dr. Kantak.
"Well, I have a daughter, so it is really important to me as a woman of color and raising a woman of color to see representation," said Lalitha Durlin, a senior studying political science.
Durlin says she has hopes to be a congresswoman one day. She says watching Judge Jackson in front of the Senate is inspiring her.
"I am looking forward to seeing the change that she brings. Just researching her, she is very educated, very straightforward, and very fair," added Durlin.
So far, she has experienced a polarized line of questioning from republican and democrat senators.
"You always have a justice pretending to be totally neutral in front of senators pretending to be totally non-partisan, and everybody kind of knows that everybody isn't what they are pretending to be. This is how the game is played," said Kantak
This is not her first time appearing in front of the Senate.
"She was nominated to the D.C. Circuit Court before, and she went through the confirmation process then, and she got, I believe, 53 votes."
Judge Jackson will need to gain the majority vote of the 100 United States Senators to be confirmed as a justice. The Democratic party currently controls the Senate.
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