Senators, it’s time to add some 305 to the U.S. Supreme Court | Opinion

No Floridian has ever been appointed to the Supreme Court. Even though Florida has the third most electoral votes in the country, we have been shut out on the highest court in the land.

It’s time to change that.

This is a wonderful opportunity for Florida’s two senators to get behind the first Florida-reared nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson. Miami is absolutely bursting with pride, and U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott should embrace this nominee.

Jackson went to Miami Palmetto High School, where she was a rock-star national debate champion. Her parents started their careers as public school teachers. While Jackson was in preschool, her father went to law school. She spoke glowingly about sitting next to him reading law-school text books while she was doing her preschool homework.

Rubio and Scott certainly can’t argue with Jackson’s sparkling credentials. She went to Harvard University for college and then to Harvard Law School. She has been a judge on two prestigious courts, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Her almost nine years of experience as a judge are more than four current Justices (Thomas, Roberts, Kagan and Barrett) had combined. She also worked in a number of large law firms and was appointed to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, where she served as vice chair.

Diversifying the court

Not only would Jackson be the first Floridian on the Court, she also would be its first African-American woman and the first former federal public defender.

It’s about time. It’s not just diversity in the traditional sense that is important; professional and geographical diversity are also critical. In fact, 17 years ago on this opinion page, I called for President Bush to appoint the first Floridian to the Court. As Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the court, once explained: “The Supreme Court and other appellate courts benefit by having judges from diverse backgrounds and experiences.”

Jackson almost certainly will be confirmed by the Democratic-controlled Senate. Rubio and Scott should support her nomination to show that country comes before party. The U.S. Constitution establishes that the president gets to nominate a Supreme Court justice, therefore, there is no principled basis for voting No, other than that Republicans vote against Democratic nominees. But that would just be wrong (as is Democrats voting against qualified Republican-nominated candidates).

I know Jackson from her time as a debater for Palmetto (I debated for rival Killian High School) and at Harvard Law School, where we were a year apart. So I am definitely biased in favor of her nomination. I can’t think of a better person for the job.

Plus, it’s time for some 305 on the Supreme Court — and that’s something both our senators should be able to support.

David Oscar Markus is criminal defense attorney at Markus/Moss in Miami. He hosts the podcast “For The Defense.”

This story was originally published March 2, 2022 at 12:33 PM.