WATCH: Jackson reflects on changes in U.S. racial equity since her parents’ upbringing

In the Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, cited the Supreme Court nominee’s comments at a 2020 event at the University of Chicago School of Law in which she spoke about the civil rights movement. At that time, she said that she was able to inhabit a world that embodied Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision for racial equality less than a decade after he laid it out in his most famous speech. Grassley asked if those comments still reflect her views.

Jackson said that they did, adding just how much her own upbringing differed from that of her parents in Miami, Florida. She said that her parents went to segregated schools, while she attended “diverse” public schools in her youth.

“The fact that we had come that far was to me a testament to the hope and the promise of this country, the greatness of America. That in one generation — one generation — we could go from racially segregated schools in Florida to have me sitting here as the first Floridian ever to be nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States,” Jackson said.

Jackson was nominated by President Joe Biden in February to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. If confirmed, she will be the first Black woman on the high court. After opening statements from Jackson, her colleagues and the senators March 21, senators will spend two days questioning Jackson at length about her rulings and judicial philosophy. On the final day of the hearings March 24, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hear from friends and colleagues of Jackson about her temperament and approach to the law.

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