By Haley Wilson
The Birmingham Times
More than a dozen Black female judges in Jefferson County (AL) gathered Tuesday in the downtown Birmingham courthouse in support of future Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Jackson is set to be confirmed as the first Black female justice on the nation’s highest court by the end of the week.
“I’m ecstatic and happy for what is to come,” said Judge Ruby Davis of Jefferson County District Court Place 7. “We are living in groundbreaking history right at this moment.”
Davis was one of 16 Jefferson County Judges who gathered for a historic photo shoot on Tuesday. She was joined by Judge Pamela Wilson Cousins, Judge Debra Weston-Pickens, Judge Lorraine Pringle, Judge Maria Fortune;
Judge Brendette Brown Green, Judge Patricia Stephens, Judge Marshell Jackson Hatcher, Judge Javan Patton, Judge Kechia Davis, Judge Janine Hunt-Hilliard, Judge Shanta’ Owens;
Judge Agnes Chappell, Judge Tamara Harris Johnson, Presiding Court Judge Elisabeth French, and Judge Annetta Verin.
“This photo shoot means a lot to me today for many reasons,” said Davis, who organized the shoot. “It was something that I felt we as female and as Black female judges in Jefferson County needed. We need to stand together in unity to show our full support for the first Black female justice to serve on the Supreme Court. . . It feels like the glass ceiling is finally about to break for the Black female and being a Black female in the legal profession.”
She added, “I just wanted today to just be a moment of solidarity to just say, ‘we are here. We’re listening. We are with [Judge Jackson].’”
