For the first time in its 233-year history the US Supreme Court is to include a black female justice, after the Senate confirmed Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the nine-member bench.

Three Republicans crossed the aisle to seal her appointment by a vote of 53 to 47 - fulfilling President Joe Biden's campaign promise to put a black woman on the court.

MS Jackson, 51, will replace Justice Stephen Breyer, a fellow liberal judge for whom she once clerked, upon his retirement in June.

The lifetime appointment will likely see the new justice on the bench for decades, but will not shift the ideological balance of the current court, with its 6-3 conservative majority.

Date: 8th April, 2022