Cuban American Bar Association leaders endorse Ketanji Brown Jackson for SCOTUS

Leaders from the Cuban American Bar Association (CABA) are endorsing Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to succeed Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court.

CABA President Miriam Soler Ramos and more than 30 past presidents of the organization penned an email to White House counsel Dana Remus on Wednesday, praising Jackson as a strong choice for the next Supreme Court justice.

“She is plainly exceedingly well qualified to assume the awesome responsibilities of a Supreme Court Justice, and her Miami roots will afford her a valuable perspective on the rights and lives of the people who come before the Court,” the leaders wrote in their message, according to Politico.

“The President’s selection of Judge Brown Jackson would be a lasting honor to this community and a powerful example of the value of diversity in the American justice system,” they added.

They said they wanted to “express our pride” in Brown being considered for the spot on the Supreme Court.

CABA was founded in 1974 and is made up of judges, lawyers and law students who are concerned with matters relating to the Cuban community, according to Politico.

Jackson, who is currently serving on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals after Biden nominated her last year, grew up in Miami, according to The New York Times.

The CABA leaders said Jackson “spent her formative years in Miami-Dade County, still has family in Miami, and is a testament to the outstanding capacity of the Miami-Dade County public schools.”

Jackson’s name has been tossed around as a potential successor to Breyer, who announced last month that he will retire at the end of the Supreme Court’s current term. Biden has vowed to nominate a Black woman to fill his seat on the bench.

Among the other names speculated as potential candidates to the court are California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger and J. Michelle Childs, a federal district court judge in South Carolina who Biden nominated to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in December.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have vocally advocated for Biden to nominate Childs.

Biden last week said has done a deep dive on four candidates for the job and plans to announce his pick by the end of this month.

CABA’s endorsement comes after U.W. Clemon, the first Black federal judge in Alabama, spoke out against Jackson, writing in a letter to Biden that he “strongly” believes Jackson should not be considered to fill Breyer’s seat.

Clemon said there are “several exceptionally well-qualified black female aspirants,” but noted that Jackson “should not be appointed,” according to the letter, obtained by NBC News.