U.W. Clemon, First Black Judge in Alabama, Asks Biden Not to Nominate Ketanji Brown Jackson for Supreme Court

FILE – Ketanji Brown Jackson, nominated to be a U.S. Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit, testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on pending judicial nominations on Capitol Hill in Washington on April 28, 2021. Jackson is among the women considered top prospects to replace retiring Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer and fulfill a campaign pledge President Joe Biden made to nominate the first Black woman to the court. Jackson attended Harvard for college and law school and was a law clerk to Breyer. (Tom Williams/Pool via AP, File)

The first Black federal judge in Alabama spoke out against one of President Biden‘s potential Supreme Court picks in a letter addressed to the commander in chief that was obtained by NBC News.

U.W. Clemon, a former chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, urged the president not to consider Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the vacancy.

The retired judge said that there are “several exceptionally well-qualified black female aspirants for the Supreme Court” but that he “strongly” believes Jackson should not be considered.

Clemon referenced the case Ross v. Lockhead as reasoning for his opposition to Jackson, a class-action suit she presided over on behalf of 5,500 Black Lockheed Martin employees. Clemon wrote that Jackson refused to approve the settlement that was reached, which would have provided $22 million to the workers.

“She refused to approve the settlement because in her view there were no common factual questions,” Clemon wrote.

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SOURCE: The Hill, Natalie Prieb