Biden's Supreme Court pick will promote 'woke agenda': Latino leader

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Democrats, Republicans set to thoroughly vet Ketanji Brown Jackson

Fox News chief legal correspondent Shannon Bream reports on the Supreme Court nominee's legal education and experience.

The leader of a conservative Latino group said he "strongly" opposes President Biden's Supreme Court pick Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson because she has aggressively worked to promote a "woke agenda."

"While no one doubts her intelligence and knowledge of the law, she has shown that she’s willing to put her radical leftists views before the letter of the law and the constitution," Alfonso Aguilar, president of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, told Fox News Digital. "To preserve the proper balance among our constitutional branches of government, we cannot have another activist ideologue in the highest court of the land trying to push a particular political point of view."

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Aguilar, who worked for the second Bush Administration and now promotes conservative values within the Latino community, added: "Hispanic citizens who are turned off by the Democrats’ turn to the extreme left will take note that the president has decided to nominate someone who, in her career as an attorney and then as a federal judge, has aggressively worked to promote a woke agenda."

Alfonso Aguilar is the president of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, which promotes conservative values and ideals within the Latino community and works to better integrate Latinos in the conservative movement.  (Source: latinopartnership.org)

Biden on Friday announced he picked Jackson to succeed Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court, fulfilling his campaign pledge to nominate a Black woman to serve on the highest court. 

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Jackson, 51, currently sits on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, where Biden nominated her less than a year ago to take the seat of Attorney General Merrick Garland. She has a degree from Harvard Law School and clerked for Breyer. 

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is a U.S. Circuit Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, poses for a portrait, Friday, Feb., 18, 2022, at the court in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

The Republican National Hispanic Assembly, an organization for conservative Hispanics, also was critical of Biden's Supreme Court choice and put out a statement denouncing "targeted discrimination." The group said Democrats fail to see that minorities don't want special privileges but to be treated with dignity and respect as equals.

"Once again, Joe Biden and the Democratic Party have shown the people of our country that racial politics and political pandering are more vital to them than serving all people of our country," the Republican National Hispanic Assembly said Saturday. 

The statement continued: "The Republican National Hispanic Assembly rejects targeted discrimination in the name of equality and opportunity for all people. The Hispanic community supports the best people for the job, not handpicked individuals to pursue a vote based on the color of their skin."

Jackson had long been touted in progressive circles as a potential candidate for a future Supreme Court seat – and progressives cheered the choice on Friday. 

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Left-leaning Latino groups issued statements of support for Jackson, including the Latino Victory Project, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and Voto Latino. They applauded her qualifications and the chance to diversify the court. 

"Judge Jackson is extraordinarily well qualified for a seat on the Supreme Court," said Maria Teresa Kumar, Voto Latino President and CEO. "Just as importantly, her nomination represents a profoundly important step towards creating a court that reflects the diversity of this country.

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She continued: "I remember distinctly how proud I felt when President Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to become the first Latina to become a Supreme Court Justice. I’m overjoyed for the millions of Black women and little girls who I know are experiencing a similar sense of pride today."

Jackson's nomination now heads to the Senate Judiciary Committee for vetting and public hearings. Jackson will need 51 votes in the Senate to be confirmed to the Supreme Court. 

Fox News' Tyler Olson contributed to this report.