- Supermaxi yachts eye record in gruelling Sydney-Hobart race
- Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts, spewing columns of lava
- El Salvador Congress votes to end ban on metal mining
- Five things to know about Panama Canal, in Trump's sights
- NBA fines Minnesota guard Edwards $75,000 for outburst
- Haitians massacred for practicing voodoo were abducted, hacked to death: UN
- Inter beat Como to keep in touch with leaders Atalanta
- Man Utd boss Amorim questions 'choices' of Rashford's entourage
- Trump's TikTok love raises stakes in battle over app's fate
- Is he serious? Trump stirs unease with Panama, Greenland ploys
- England captain Stokes to miss three months with torn hamstring
- Support grows for Blake Lively over smear campaign claim
- Canada records 50,000 opioid overdose deaths since 2016
- Jordanian, Qatari envoys hold talks with Syria's new leader
- France's second woman premier makes surprise frontline return
- France's Macron announces fourth government of the year
- Netanyahu tells Israel parliament 'some progress' on Gaza hostage deal
- Guatemalan authorities recover minors taken by sect members
- Germany's far-right AfD holds march after Christmas market attack
- Serie A basement club Monza fire coach Nesta
- Mozambique top court confirms ruling party disputed win
- Syrian medics say were coerced into false chemical attack testimony
- NASA solar probe to make its closest ever pass of Sun
- London toy 'shop' window where nothing is for sale
- Volkswagen boss hails cost-cutting deal but shares fall
- Accused killer of US insurance CEO pleads not guilty to 'terrorist' murder
- Global stock markets mostly higher
- Not for sale. Greenland shrugs off Trump's new push
- Acid complicates search after deadly Brazil bridge collapse
- Norwegian Haugan dazzles in men's World Cup slalom win
- Arsenal's Saka out for 'many weeks' with hamstring injury
- Mali singer Traore child custody case postponed
- France mourns Mayotte victims amid uncertainy over government
- UK economy stagnant in third quarter in fresh setback
- African players in Europe: Salah leads Golden Boot race after brace
- German far-right AfD to march in city hit by Christmas market attack
- Ireland centre Henshaw signs IRFU contract extension
- Bangladesh launches $5bn graft probe into Hasina's family
- US probes China chip industry on 'anticompetitive' concerns
- Biden commutes sentences for 37 of 40 federal death row inmates
- Clock ticks down on France government nomination
- Mozambique on edge as judges rule on disputed election
- Mobile cinema brings Tunisians big screen experience
- Honda and Nissan to launch merger talks
- Police arrest suspect who set woman on fire in New York subway
- China vows 'cooperation' over ship linked to severed Baltic Sea cables
- Australian tennis star Purcell provisionally suspended for doping
- Luxury Western goods line Russian stores, three years into sanctions
- Wallace and Gromit return with comic warning about AI dystopia
- Philippine military says will acquire US Typhon missile system
First Black woman eyed for US Supreme Court vows to uphold democracy
US Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson vowed Monday to defend the "grand experiment of American democracy" as she launched a historic bid to be the first Black woman on the nation's highest judicial bench.
President Joe Biden's pick made the pledge as she was formally introduced at the start of televised hearings that will go on to include two days of questioning and a final day of testimony from outside witnesses.
"If I am confirmed, I commit to you that I will work productively to support and defend the Constitution and the grand experiment of American democracy that has endured over these past 246 years," the 51-year-old former public defender told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
A federal judge with almost a decade of experience on lower courts, Jackson previously served as a law clerk to Stephen Breyer, the retiring liberal justice she is being nominated to replace.
She is the first Black woman tapped for a seat on the court and would also be the only nominee of a Democratic president to be confirmed since Elena Kagan in 2010.
She assured senators at the start of what can be a highly politically partisan process in the United States that she took her duty to be independent "very seriously" and always applied the law "without fear or favor."
While the historic significance of Jackson's nomination is enormous, the prospects for major drama are low, with a green light from the Senate all but assured and the 6-3 conservative balance of the court not in play.
As the final word on all civil and criminal legal disputes, as well as guardian and interpreter of the Constitution, the Supreme Court seeks to ensure equal justice under the law.
- No 'character assassination' -
It is also a check on the power wielded by the other branches of government and the arbiter of disputes covering all aspects of American life, from religious liberty and voting rights to gun ownership and abortion access.
The committee is meeting through Thursday to consider Jackson's nomination, which is being conducted by a 50-50 chamber controlled by Democrats, meaning there is no room for missteps.
No red flags have been raised about Jackson's record that would imperil her prospects, and Republicans have pledged to avoid the kind of "character assassination" they argue Democrats staged before the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.
But conservatives have been signaling that they intend to go after her record as a public defender and raise rulings they say were too lenient in a bid to frame Biden -- via his nominee -- as soft on crime ahead of November's midterm elections.
Staunch right-winger Josh Hawley has already suggested that Jackson has a pattern of "letting child porn offenders off the hook" and added Monday that he intended to have a "very candid" conversation with her about her sentencing history.
- 'Not going to fly' -
From the beginning, both sides were on the defensive, with the committee's Democratic chairman Dick Durbin seeking to discredit the claim that Jackson isn't tough enough and praising her as a "champion for the rule of law."
Republicans, including former committee chairmen Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham, defended their side against potential accusations that opposition to Jackson is racist or sexist.
"We're all racist if we ask hard questions? It's not going to fly with us," Graham said.
In a marked contrast to the solemn atmosphere inside the hearing, supporters of Jackson staged a jubilant rally outside the nearby Supreme Court, wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the judge's image and waving placards.
Gospel choirs sang and dancers danced as activists chanted Jackson's name at the demonstration staged by the National Women's Law Center Action Fund, She Will Rise and the Black Women's Roundtable.
All 22 senators on the judiciary committee will question Jackson on Tuesday and Wednesday, while Thursday's hearing includes outside witnesses. Democratic leaders plan a final Senate vote by early April.
A.F.Rosado--PC