JUDGE JACKSON: THANK YOU, SENATOR. FIRST, LET ME JUST ADDRESS MY COMMENTS TO YOU AND YOUR OFFICE. WHICH IS SOMETHING THAT I'VE SAID IN SPEECHES BECAUSE IT SPEAKS TO WHO I AM AND WHAT I VALUE. MY PARENTS GREW UP IN FLORIDA UNDER LAWFUL SEGREGATION. AND WHAT THAT MEANS IS THAT WHEN THEY WERE COMING THROUGH MIDDLE SCHOOL AND HIGH SCHOOL, THEY WERE NOT ALLOWED TO GO TO SCHOOL WITH WHITE STUDENTS. THIS IS IN THE ERA BEFORE AND RIGHT AFTER THE BROWN VS. THE BOARD DECISION. THERE WAS LAWFUL SEGREGATION IN PLACES IN THIS COUNTRY. AND IT WAS AFTER THAT TIME THAT DR. KING MADE HIS FAMOUS COMMENTS THAT PEOPLE MENTIONED ABOUT HAVING A DREAM WHERE PEOPLE CAN BE JUDGED BY THE -- NOT BY THE COLOR OF THEIR SKIN, BUT BY THE CONTENT OF THEIR CHARACTER AND I THEN WAS BORN IN 1970. AND THE CONTRAST BETWEEN MY REALITY GROWING UP IN FLORIDA AND MY PARENTS' REALITY GROWING UP IN FLORIDA WAS LIKE NIGHT AND DAY IN TERMS OF THE OPPORTUNITIES THAT WERE AVAILABLE TO ME, THAT WEREN'T AVAILABLE TO JUDGE MOTLEY WHO IS ONE OF MY ROLE MODELS IN THE LAW. AND SO WHAT MY BEING HERE, I THINK, IS ABOUT AT SOME LEVEL IS ABOUT THE PROGRESS THAT WE'VE MADE IN THIS COUNTRY IN A VERY SHORT PERIOD OF TIME, I WOULD SAY. SEEMS LIKE A LONG TIME. BUT ONE GENERATION WE'VE GONE FROM THE REALITY OF MY PARENTS' UPBRINGING TO THE REALITY OF MINE. AND I DO CONSIDER MYSELF, HAVING BEEN BORN IN 1970, TO BE THE FIRST GENERATION TO BENEFIT FROM THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT FROM THE LEGACY OF ALL OF THE WORK OF SO MANY PEOPLE THAT WENT INTO CHANGING THE LAWS IN THIS COUNTRY SO THAT PEOPLE LIKE ME COULD HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO BE SITTING HERE BEFORE YOU TODAY. WHAT I WOULD HOPE TO BRING TO THE SUPREME COURT IS VERY SIMILAR TO WHAT 115 OTHER JUSTICES HAVE BROUGHT, WHICH IS THEIR LIFE EXPERIENCES, THEIR PERSPECTIVES, AND MINE INCLUDE BEING A TRIAL JUDGE, BEING AN APPELLATE JUDGE, BEING A PUBLIC DEFENDER, BEING A MEMBER OF THE SENTENCING COMMISSION. IN ADDITION TO MY BEING A BLACK WOMAN, LUCKY INHERITER OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS DREAM. AND IN MY CAPACITY AS A JUSTICE, I WOULD DO WHAT I'VE DONE FOR THE PAST DECADE, WHICH IS TO RULE FROM A POSITION OF NEUTRALITY, TO LOOK CAREFULLY AT THE FACTS AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF EVERY CASE WITHOUT ANY AGENDAS, WITHOUT ANY ATTEMPT TO PUSH THE LAW IN ONE DIRECTION OR THE OTHER, TO LOOK ONLY AT THE FACTS AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES, INTERPRETING THE LAW CONSISTENT WITH THE CONSTITUTION AND PRECEDENCE AND TO RENDER RULINGS THAT I BELIEVE AND THAT I HOPE THE PEOPLE WOULD HAVE CONFIDENCE IN. ...