00:00Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is the first black woman Supreme Court Justice. We
00:05spoke with the black woman lawyers at the White House who helped make it
00:08happen. Hi my name is Tona Boyd. I'm special counsel and special assistant
00:15to the president and White House counsel's office. In counsel's office I
00:18serve as a senior member of the judicial nominations and racial justice and
00:23equity teams. As a black woman attorney it was the honor of my career to help
00:29work to get Judge Jackson confirmed to the Supreme Court. The day that she was
00:34announced I saw across campus whether it was black women who worked in the
00:40counsel's office, black women who serve across the White House, each of us held
00:45our heads a little bit higher knowing that Judge Jackson was going to be put
00:50forward to the Supreme Court. I was able to participate in both the selection
00:54process as well as the vetting process. I helped participate in preparing her for
01:00her hearing and I was able to accompany her to her meetings on the Hill. So from
01:06day one there was a team of us that included a number of black women in
01:10counsel's office that were side-by-side helping to get her prepared to be
01:14confirmed. Hello my name is Jamie McFarlane I'm a deputy associate counsel to
01:19the president in the White House counsel's office. I work on judicial
01:21nominations where I help President Biden with the selection of judges to help
01:25fill the federal judiciary. My role with the confirmation process the nomination
01:30and confirmation process for Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was with the
01:34selection the vetting and helping Justice Jackson prepare for her hearings and
01:38also to help to support our communications team throughout the
01:41process. Hi I'm Danielle Conley and I'm deputy counsel to President Biden in the
01:46office of the White House counsel. We really did drive every part of the
01:51process from the vetting of candidates to once Judge Jackson was the
01:57president's selection to helping prepare her for hearings and for the
02:01process to attending the hearings with her to just walking through with her
02:06every aspect of what she would need to be prepared for in this process. As a
02:11black woman attorney this moment in history is extremely meaningful to me. You
02:17know I think I went to Howard Law School and grew up idolizing Thurgood Marshall and
02:23never thought that in my lifetime I'd see a black woman be appointed to the
02:27Supreme Court and let alone get to work closely on the process of helping that
02:34woman get confirmed to the Supreme Court. And I just think as a black woman
02:37serving in this White House is one of the senior most black women serving in the
02:42White House to work under a black woman who's the vice president who went to
02:48Howard just like I did to getting the help with the process around Judge Jackson's
02:54hearing and confirmation. It just really has shown me that the sky is the limit for us.
03:00It's shown me that black women belong in every space and that we add value in
03:06every space and it's put me in a place to be able to show my daughters that the
03:12sky really is the limit. My name is Fumi Alarnefa Badajo. I am a special
03:17assistant to the president and associate counsel at the White House counsel's
03:21office. In that role I'm a senior lawyer on the ethics and compliance team. I help to
03:28manage White House compliance policies and ensure vetting and ethics review of
03:35White House staff. As a black woman attorney seeing Justice Jackson's
03:40nomination and confirmation to the Supreme Court meant everything to me. As a
03:45lawyer the Supreme Court is the pinnacle of legal society and seeing a black woman
03:53who looks like me on the court just shows how far we have come as a people.
03:59Representation really matters and I'm excited that the next generation will be
04:05able to see a black woman on the Supreme Court as they're coming up.
04:10Congratulations Justice Jackson!
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