Ketanji Brown Jackson brings varied legal resume to U.S. Supreme Court

If confirmed as its first Black woman justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson would add not only racial and gender diversity to the U.S. Supreme Court but would also bring a varied legal background including a stint representing low-income criminal defendants.

Jackson, 51, served early in her career as a Supreme Court clerk for Justice Stephen Breyer, whose retirement announced in January created a vacancy on the nation's top judicial body that President Joe Biden picked her to fill. Biden, a Democrat, last year appointed Jackson to an influential Washington-based appellate court after she served eight years as a federal district judge.

Jackson's four-day Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing starts on Monday. A simple majority vote in needed in the Senate to confirm Jackson to the lifetime post. She has won three prior Senate confirmation votes for other jobs.