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Russian Missiles Hit Train Station; White House Celebrates Confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired April 08, 2022 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JUDGE KETANJI BROWN JACKSON, SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: As you may have heard, during the confirmation process, I had the distinct honor of having 95 personal meetings with 97 sitting senators.

[13:00:02]

(LAUGHTER)

JACKSON: And we had substantive and engaging conversations about my approach to judging and about the role of judges in the constitutional system we all love.

As a brief aside, I will note that these are subjects about which I care deeply. I have dedicated my career to public service because I love this country and our Constitution and the rights that make us free.

I also understand from my many years of practice as a legal advocate, as a trial judge and as a judge on a court of appeals that part of the genius of the constitutional framework of the United States is its design, and that the framers entrusted the judicial branch with a crucial, but limited role.

I have also spent the better part of the past decade hearing thousands of cases and writing hundreds of opinions. And in every instance, I have done my level best to stay in my lane and to reach a result that is consistent with my understanding of the law and with the obligation to rule independently, without fear or favor.

I am humbled and honored to continue in this fashion as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, working with brilliant colleagues, supporting and defending the Constitution, and steadfastly upholding the rule of law.

(APPLAUSE)

JACKSON: But today, at this podium, my mission is far more modest.

I'm simply here to give my heartfelt thanks to the categories of folks who are largely responsible for me being here at this moment.

First, of course, there is my family.

Mom and dad, thank you, not only for traveling back here on what seems like a moment's notice, but for everything you have done, and continue to do for me.

My brother, Ketajh, is here as well.

You have always been an inspiration to me, as a model of public service and bravery. And I thank you for that.

I love you all very much.

(APPLAUSE)

JACKSON: To my in-laws, Pamela and Gardner Jackson, who are here today, and my sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law, William and Dana, Gardie and Natalie, thank you for your love and support.

To my daughters, Talia and Leila, I bet you never thought you would get to skip school by spending a day at the White House.

(LAUGHTER)

JACKSON: This is all pretty exciting for me as well. But nothing has brought me greater joy than being your mother. I love you very much.

(APPLAUSE)

JACKSON: Patrick, thank you for everything you have done for me over these past 25 years of our marriage. You have done everything to support and encourage me. And it is you who've made this moment possible.

(APPLAUSE)

JACKSON: Your -- your steadfast love gave me the courage to move in this direction. I don't know that I believed you when you said that I could do this, but now I do.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

JACKSON: And, for that, I'm forever grateful.

In the family category, let me also briefly mention the huge extended family, both Patrick's and my own, who are watching this from all over the country and the world. Thank you for supporting me. I hope to be able to connect with you personally in the coming weeks and months.

Moving on briefly to the second category of people that warrant special recognition, those who provided invaluable support to me professionally in the decades prior to my nomination and the many, many friends I have been privileged to make throughout my life and career.

Now, I know that everyone who finds professional success thinks they have the best mentors, but I truly do.

(LAUGHTER) JACKSON: I had three inspiring jurists for whom I had the privilege of clerking, Judge Patti Saris, Judge Bruce Selya, and, of course, Justice Stephen Breyer.

Each of them is an exceptional public servant. And I could not have had better role models for thoughtfulness, integrity, honor, and principle, both by word and deed.

My clerkship with Justice Breyer, in particular, was an extraordinary gift, and one for which I have only become more grateful with each passing year.

[13:05:05]

Justice Breyer's commitment to an independent, impartial judiciary is unflagging. And, for him, the rule of law is not merely a duty. It is his passion. I am daunted by the prospect of having to follow in his footsteps. And I would count myself lucky, indeed, to be able to do so with even the smallest amount of his wisdom, grace and joy.

The exceptional mentorship of the judges for whom I clerked has proven especially significant for me during this past decade of my service as a federal judge. And, of course, that service itself has been a unique opportunity.

For that, I must also thank President Obama, who put his faith in me by nominating me to my first judicial role on the federal district court.

(APPLAUSE)

JACKSON: This brings me to my colleagues and staff of the federal district court in Washington, D.C., and the D.C. Circuit. Thank you for everything. I am deeply grateful for your wisdom and your battle- tested friendship through the years.

I also want to extend a special thanks to all of my law clerks, many of whom are here today, who have carved out time and space to accompany me on this professional journey.

I'm especially grateful to Jennifer Gruda (ph), who has been by my side since nearly the outset of my time on the bench...

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

JACKSON: ... and has promised -- has promised not to leave me as we take this last big step.

To the many other friends that I have had the great good fortune to have made throughout the years, from my neighborhood growing up, from Miami palmetto senior high school, and especially the debate team, from my days at Harvard College, where I met my indefatigable and beloved roommates, Lisa Fairfax, Nina Coleman Simmons, and Antoinette Sequeira Coakley. They are truly my sisters.

(APPLAUSE) JACKSON: To my time at Harvard Law School and the many professional experiences that I have been blessed to have since graduation.

Thank you.

I have too many friends to name, but please know how much you have meant to me and how much I have appreciated the smiles, the hugs, and the many attagirls that have propelled me forward to this day.

Finally, I'd like to give special thanks to the White House staff and the special assistants who provided invaluable assistance in helping me to navigate the confirmation process.

My trusted sherpa, Senator Doug Jones, was an absolute godsend.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(LAUGHTER)

JACKSON: He was an absolute godsend. He's not only the best storyteller you would ever want to meet, but also unbelievably popular on the Hill, which helped a lot.

(LAUGHTER)

JACKSON: I'm also standing here today in no small part due to the hard work of the brilliant folks who interact with the legislature and other stakeholders on behalf of the White House, including Louisa Terrell, Reema Dodin, Tona Boyd, Minyon Moore, Ben LaBolt, and Andrew Bates.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(LAUGHTER)

JACKSON: I am also particularly grateful for the awe-inspiring leadership of White House counsel Dana Remus.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

JACKSON: Of Paige Herwig.

Where's Paige?

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(LAUGHTER)

JACKSON: And Ron Klain.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

JACKSON: They led an extraordinarily talented team of White House staffers in the Herculean effort that was required to ensure that I was well-prepared for the rigors of this process, and in record time.

Thank you all.

(APPLAUSE)

JACKSON: Thank you as well to the many, many kindhearted people from all over this country and around the world who have reached out to me directly in recent weeks with messages of support.

I have spent years toiling away in the relative solitude of my chambers with just my law clerks and isolation. So, it's been somewhat overwhelmed filming, in a good way, to recently be flooded with thousands of notes and cards and photos expressing just how much this moment means to so many people.

[13:10:14]

The notes that I have received from children are particularly cute and especially meaningful, because, more than anything, they speak directly to the hope and promise of America.

It has taken 232 years and 115 prior appointments for a black woman to be selected to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

JACKSON: But we have made it.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

JACKSON: We have made it, all of us, all of us.

(APPLAUSE)

JACKSON: And our children are telling me that they see now more than ever that, here in America, anything is possible.

(APPLAUSE)

JACKSON: They also tell me that I'm a role model, which I take both as an opportunity and as a huge responsibility.

I am feeling up to the task, primarily because I know that I am not alone. I am standing on the shoulders of my own role models, generations of Americans who never had anything close to this kind of opportunity, but who got up every day and went to work believing in the promise of America, showing others through their determination and, yes, their perseverance, that good, good things can be done in this great country.

From my grandparents on both sides, who had only a grade school education, but instilled in my parents the importance of learning, to my parents, who went to racially segregated schools growing up, and were the first in their families to have the chance to go to college.

I am also ever buoyed by the leadership of generations past who helped to light the way, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Justice Thurgood Marshall, and my personal heroine, Judge Constance Baker Motley. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

JACKSON: They and so many others did the heavy lifting that made this day possible.

And for all of the talk of this historic nomination and now confirmation, I think of them as the true pathbreakers. I am just the very lucky first inheritor of the dream of liberty and justice for all.

(APPLAUSE)

JACKSON: To be sure, I have worked hard to get to this point in my career. And I have now achieved something far beyond anything my grandparents could have possibly ever imagined.

But no one does this on their own. The path was cleared for me, so that I might rise to this occasion.

And in the poetic words of Dr. Maya Angelou, I do so now while bringing the gifts my ancestors gave.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

JACKSON: I -- I am the dream and the hope of a slave.

(APPLAUSE)

JACKSON: So -- so, as I take on this new role, I strongly believe that this is a moment in which all Americans can take great pride.

We have come a long way toward perfecting our union. In my family, it took just one generation to go from segregation to the Supreme Court of the United States.

[13:15:00]

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

JACKSON: And it is an honor, the honor of a lifetime, for me to have this chance to join the court, to promote the rule of law at the highest level, and to do my part, to carry our shared project of democracy and equal justice under law forward into the future.

Thank you again, Mr. President and members of the Senate, for this incredible honor.

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: A historic moment, a celebration.

Welcome, everyone. I'm Ana Cabrera. Thank you for joining us.

The soon-to-be Supreme Court justice Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson speaking for the first time since she was confirmed, and the White House marking this achievement, the first black woman in the court's 233-year history. With us now, CNN senior White House correspondent Phil Mattingly, CNN

senior legal analyst Laura Coates, and CNN legal analyst Joan Biskupic.

And, Laura, this was an emotional and powerful speech. She said it took 33 years -- 233 years, that is, but we have made it.

LAURA COATES, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: First of all, Ana, I'm not crying, you're crying, if anyone should see the tears fall.

But I am extraordinarily emotional about this. And I can understand every moment, every breath, every pause that she took when she concluded and said that it took her family but one generation to go from segregation to the Supreme Court.

I am the daughter of the Jim Crow South, my mother at segregated schools in North Carolina, my father in Western Massachusetts, where Jim Crow found a wingspan nonetheless. And to have and see this moment is unbelievably breathtaking for me.

I know many people will make these comments and they will say, well, her presence won't change the composition of the court because she's replacing and succeeding somebody who has a similar ideology.

But let me tell you, if you did not notice and understand the full breadth of how she will change the discussion on the Supreme Court, bringing the gift that her ancestors have given her, as she quoted Maya Angelou, this is a woman who understood the assignment, understood all that brought her here, and understood what it took for a black woman to now be the 116th Supreme Court confirmed justice to the court.

And I can tell you, as a mother, as a black woman, as an attorney, as a scholar of history, I cannot tell you how my heart and my soul is bursting, because, for the first time, I see myself.

CABRERA: And she talked about how that was not lost on her and the great responsibility she feels in representing so much more than herself, more than the country. It's such a deep, deep feeling that she is carrying forward.

She won't take the bench, however, for a few more months, Joan. Explain why and what happens next.

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Sure. Good to be with you, Ana.

And she really did own this moment. And you can see her great sense of rhetoric. She will probably bring that into her discussions with their fellow colleagues. She knows how to make her case in every way.

What she will do, though, she will not be able to make her case yet until the end of June or July, because Stephen Breyer, whom she's succeeding is still serving out the '21-'22 term, lots of big cases that he will be resolving in abortion rights and gun control, and many other momentous decisions are expected. But she will then take the oath of office, her constitutional oath and

judicial oath, at the end of June or July, when this term finishes up. And then, Ana, starting right away, she will probably handle several emergency petitions that will come in over the summer.

But the big next time we will see her in person in a -- on any kind of national stage will be at the Supreme Court on the first Monday in October, when the new session starts. And what will then come before the court that she will have a hand in will be major voting rights cases that are already on their calendar, an important test of racial affirmative action and higher education for both the University of North Carolina and Harvard.

She has already said she will sit out the Harvard case because she's currently a member of the Harvard board of overseers. And then a major case involving gay rights in America. As you know, in 2015, the Supreme Court said that the Constitution gives same-sex couples a right to marry.

[13:20:00]

But there are so many other issues around that, including retailers, and, in the case that's coming up, a woman who has a Web site that handles marriages and doesn't want to serve same-sex couples for their marriages. And that will be tested as a free speech, religious liberty, gay rights case.

So she will have plenty of important matters to be part of. But it won't start officially until she takes her oath at the end of June or early July.

And just one last thing. She's currently sitting on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. And she will continue in the that responsibility for a few more weeks, Ana.

CABRERA: I want to bring in Phil Mattingly as well, because we have heard from President Biden, Phil.

He called this a moment of real change in America. And, in many ways, this was a legacy moment for President Biden as well. How important was this for the president and his party?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I don't think you can overstate it in terms of president, as in just the individual of President Biden, obviously, during the campaign making the pledge to appoint the first African-American woman, coming through on that pledge.

But I think, more broadly, any president, the opportunity to put their own personal stamp on the court is huge. It is legacy no matter what. You look at the age of Ketanji Brown Jackson. You look at how long she will likely be on the court, the role she will play there, despite the current ideological makeup of the court. She will always be associated with President Biden.

And I think that matters a lot. In terms of for the party, I think, more than anything else, it's a couple of things. It's delivering on a promise. It's delivering on a promise to a very key constituency for the Democratic Party. But, more than that, I think the process here matters, and probably doesn't get as much attention.

The judge's remarks were rather extraordinary in terms of leaning into this moment and what it means. But the process to get here over the course of 42 days ,from the nomination to the confirmation, with a team of individuals from the president, obviously former Senate Judiciary Committee chairman and Chief of Staff Ron Klain, who has been through a number of these nominations, the White House counsel, Dana Remus.

Also, you heard Judge Jackson list off a team of names, all of whom were critical during this process, their legislative affairs team, her outside team, and making it, despite some fireworks at those hearings, a rather seamless process and a process that secured the votes of three Republicans, which the president made sure to shout out.

I think that matters. Competency is what the president ran on. Competency is what White House officials believe they delivered during this process. And, without question, they delivered a historic moment for his administration and his legacy.

CABRERA: And for the country. And in the words of Judge Jackson, this is a moment for all Americans to take great pride.

Thank you so much, Phil Mattingly, Laura Coates and Joan Biskupic. I really appreciate all of you.

Still ahead, breaking news out of Ukraine today, a deadly missile attack on a train station full of evacuees, the death toll mounting.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:27:21]

CABRERA: Now to the breaking news in Ukraine, where thousands of civilians were on the verge of evacuation, and then a missile strike transformed their train station into a killing field.

We want to warn you, some of these sights and sounds are graphic and very disturbing. This is the immediate aftermath of this attack, bone- chilling screams, as terrified civilians scatter among the dead and the wounded.

Maybe no photo is more haunting than this. An abandoned stroller sits amid the blood and gore on a sidewalk outside the station. Ukrainian officials say at least 50 civilians were killed. At least 100 are injured, mostly women and children. At least five children are among the dead.

Ukraine says it is more proof that Russia is intentionally slaughtering civilians. But Russia is saying it had no involvement in this attack and that Ukraine's accusations are a provocation. Regardless, this next image is adding to today's international

outrage. An unexploded rocket carries the written message "For the children."

Now, to be fair, it's not clear if that implied children were the targets or if it's somehow implied in revenge for the children. The train station is a major hub for civilians evacuating the Donbass region in Eastern Ukraine. And the time to flee may be running out. Ukrainian officials say Russia is about to launch a massive breakthrough offensive in this region.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Odessa, Ukraine, there in the south part of the country, that city under curfew now, Ed, due to the threat of Russian missile strikes. What's the latest on this train station attack? What more are you learning?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, 50 dead, 100 wounded, a grotesque day here in Ukraine and a horrific day for thousands of Ukrainians, civilians who were simply trying to reach a safer place, either in this country or into another country, because it is becoming increasingly clear that this renewed offensive by Russian forces in the eastern part of the country is going to open up the next chapter of this war.

And it does not look good in terms of what is going to happen in the days and weeks ahead for many people. So, the strike that happened there this morning at that train station is receiving worldwide condemnation, talk of another example of war crimes committed by Vladimir Putin and his forces here in this country.