“Saturday Night Live” got positively teary-eyed celebrating the U.S. Supreme Court’s first Black female justice in the cold open.
“This is a big damn deal,” President Joe Biden (James Austin Johnson) tells “Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson” (played by Ego Nwodim), triggering whoops from the audience.
“I was happy to do my part,” Nwodim smiles. “Worked twice as hard as white men my entire life — and then spent a week listening to Ted Cruz call me a pedophile.”
As Biden wanders off to a press conference Nwodim’s Jackson conjures up a crew of inspirational Americans: The late Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Thurgood Marshall, underground railroad conductor Harriet Tubman and Jackie Robinson (who is crushed baseball players can make millions today).
Ginsburg, played by Kate McKinnon, gives Jackson a huge hug.
Her advice? “Aways label your lunches” to protect them from sticky-fingered justices.
When Jackson complains about the condescending Cruz reading aloud a child’s book about racism at her during confirmation hearings, Ginsburg guesses the title: “Goodnight Cancun.”
And “that’s a Gins-burn,” McKinnon smirks.
Check out the cold open video up top.
