President Joe Biden on Friday nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the U.S. Supreme Court, elevating an African American woman for the first time to a seat on the high court bench.

At a formal White House ceremony Friday afternoon, Biden said, “it is my honor to introduce to the country a daughter of former public school teachers, a proven consensus builder, an accomplished lawyer, a distinguished jurist, one of the most — on one of the nation’s most prestigious courts.”

“For too long our government, our courts haven’t looked like America,” he said.”And I believe it is time that we have a court that reflects the full talents and greatness of our nation with a nominee of extraordinary qualifications.”

Jackson, in turn, said she was “truly humbled” by “the extraordinary honor” and gave credit to “the grace of God” and her parents for bringing her to this historic moment.

At age 51, Jackson currently sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to which she was named by Biden and confirmed by the Senate last year with Republican support. The president called Jackson late Thursday to inform her of the decision, a source familiar with the conversation said.

Her nomination fulfills a promise Biden made during the 2020 presidential campaign ahead of the South Carolina primary when he relied heavily on support from the state’s Black voters.

It’s also the first opportunity for Biden, a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to help shape a Court that has grown sharply more conservative in recent years, even if his appointment will not alter the current ideological balance.

Jackson, a former clerk to retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, has more than eight years experience on the federal bench, following a path through the judiciary traveled by many nominees before her.

All but four justices appointed in the last 50 years have come from a federal appeals court, including three current justices – Brett Kavanaugh, John Roberts and Clarence Thomas – from the D.C. Circuit.

Born in D.C. but raised in Miami, Jackson comes from an elite legal pedigree as a graduate of Harvard Law School but also has experience representing everyday Americans in the legal system as a federal public defender.

“Public service is a core value in my family,” Judge Jackson testified last year.

She would be the first federal public defender to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court and the first justice since Thurgood Marshall to have criminal defense experience.