A tweet posted to the Good Morning America Twitter account on Thursday erroneously described Ketanji Brown Jackson as being the nation’s first-ever black Supreme Court Justice.
“Ketanji Brown Jackson is sworn in as the first Black Supreme Court justice in U.S. history,” the now-deleted post declared.
The inaccurate tweet was reportedly up for hours before being deleted, but Good Morning America eventually issued a correction post.
“CORRECTION: Video shows Ketanji Brown Jackson sworn in as the first Black female Supreme Court justice in U.S. history. A previous tweet erroneously stated Jackson is the first Black Supreme Court justice,” the tweet noted.
Jackson, who was sworn in on Thursday, is the first black woman ever to serve on the nation’s highest court, but she is not the first black American to serve on the Supreme Court bench.
Justice Clarence Thomas, who is black, was nominated by President George H.W. Bush and has served on the Supreme Court for more than 30 years. Thurgood Marshall was the first black person ever to serve on the Supreme Court.
Only three Republican senators voted in favor of confirming Jackson to serve on the Supreme Court: Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
President Joe Biden nominated Jackson to replace Justice Stephen Breyer, who had announced plans to retire earlier this year — Breyer’s retirement became effective Thursday at noon.
Biden had pledged to nominate a black woman, but many Americans considered the concept of narrowing the field of potential candidates based solely on skin color and gender to be highly inappropriate.
“Biden’s mistake: He should not be choosing a Supreme Court justice based on the color of their skin or sex, but rather on their qualifications & commitment to uphold our Constitution & the freedoms guaranteed to all Americans in that document which is the foundation of our nation,” former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii tweeted in January.