April 11, 2022
The Daily Journal published an article by McGuireWoods Los Angeles associate Latrice Burks about the historic U.S. Senate confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court. The article focused on a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. — “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice” — and on April 7, 2022, that arc bent toward Jackson, Burks wrote.
Burks drew connections with her experience clerking for a federal judge, who shared King’s quote with her when she most needed it — after the May 25, 2020, death of George Floyd. “[T]his MLK quote meant that, even in the darkest of times and amid adversity, our nation, collectively, has always ended up alright,” Burks wrote. Jackson’s “confirmation hearing was an example of the arc of the moral universe bending in real-time, on a national stage.”
Recently, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker quoted those same validating words by King, as the Senate voted for the first time to confirm a Black woman to the nation’s top court. “MLK was right. My judge is right. Senator Booker is right,” Burks wrote in the April 8, 2022, article.
She added: As we witness the arc bend, I am honored to sit in the front row with my unique position. . . . I am so excited for the generation of lawyers after me. May they be inspired and confidently know that they can do anything.”