♪ this is "nightline." >> tonight, a historic moment. >> the yeas are 53, the nays are 47. this nomination is confirmed. >> judge ketanji brown jackson. the first black woman confirmed to the supreme court. >> all right! >> inspired by today's events, future leaders now dreaming big. >> i want to be on the bench, sitting next to justice ketanji brown. plus -- >> tiger woods! >> master play. tiger woods tees off at golf's most prestigious tournament. >> tiger! >> a remarkable return after a devastating car crash nearly ended his career. >> we have a rollover with

someone trapped. >> is this the comeback of a lifetime? >> unbelievable.

♪ stack that cheddar, make it melt. ♪ ♪ cook it up, stretch it out. ♪ ♪ we're breaking the mold. ♪ ♪ estado dorado. ♪ ♪ shining like gold. ♪ ♪ estado dorado. ♪ ♪ vive en el estado dorado live in the golden state ♪ ♪ good evening. thank you for joining us. i'm stephanie ramos.

tonight, 233 years in the making and a day of many firsts. the next supreme court justice, judge ketanji brown jackson. the impact of her confirmation felt far beyond the capitol. here's abc's rachel scott. >> even in the darkest times, there are bright lights. today is one of the brightest lights. >> reporter: a historical and powerful moment in america. ketanji brown jackson becoming the first black woman to be confirmed as a supreme court justice. >> the yeas are 53, the nays are 47. and this nomination is confirmed. >> all right! >> reporter: she watched the final vote at the white house. >> okay! >> reporter: embracing president biden, who fulfill campaign promise to nominate a black woman to the supreme court. the vote presided over by america's first black, southeast asian, and female vice

president. >> the statement about, that on our highest court in the land we want to make sure there's going to be full representation and the finest and brightest and the best. and that's what happened today. i'm very proud, very proud. >> reporter: even though the outcome was no surprise, the senate chamber was packed for the event. the first crowds since the pandemic began two years ago. and down on the floor, the moment noted by one of the three black male senators. >> i'm the father of a young black girl. i know how much it means for judge jackson to have navigated the double jeopardy of racism and sexism to now stand in the glory of this moment. >> she's going to make her mark on the court for probably decades to come. she's 51 years old. we could be looking at four decades of service on the united states supreme court. so it's an enormously consequential day. >> this nomination is confirmed. >> reporter: here at the

mathematics, civics and sciences charter school in philadelphia, students watched history unfold in front of their eyes. >> crazy. >> there's finally a black woman on the supreme court. >> it's amazing to see someone here who looks like me and my friends and family. >> reporter: outside the classroom, students face a city with sky-high rates of gun violence. but moments like this give them hope. 15-year-old kayla waddington is a sophomore here. >> it was we, the commonwealth, who had to prove the defendant guilty. i woke up super early because i was so excited for ketanji brown jackson's hearing today. i also want to be a supreme court justice someday. >> reporter: kayla and schoolmate 18-year-old mean yore asia moore are members of the school's award-winning mock trial debate team. to the court?introduce yourself- >> i've really learned from mock trial how to assert my point articulately, while also being respectful, without getting angry, and how to speak in a

manner where people will actually listen. >> reporter: judge jackson's confirmation is proof to these teens that young women of color should set their tights on the top jobs in america. >> miss jackson is the first person on the supreme court that has a history in public defense. and i find that particularly intriguing because i want to be a defense attorney. >> congratulations, judge jackson! >> reporter: ketanji brown jackson also honed her public speaking schools as a debater at miami palmetto senior high school in the miami area, a moment she remembered in this 2017 speech at the university of georgia. >> i learned how to reason and how to write, and i gained the self-confidence that can sometimes be quite difficult for women and minorities to develop at an early age. >> ketanji was destined for greatness. she was always an extraordinarily talented person. >> reporter: steven rosenthal has been friends with judge

jackson for 40 years. meeting in seventh grade, competing on the same debate team in high school. >> i know firsthand that she worked incredibly hard. she's applied herself and set her goals very high. and then, remarkably, achieved them. >> i can only hope that my life and career, my love of this country and the constitution, and my commitment to upholding the rule of law and the sacred principles upon which this great nation was founded, will inspire future generations of americans. >> reporter: not only is judge jackson the first black woman to be nominated and confirmed to the supreme court, it's also the first time four women will be on the bench and the first time three justices of color will serve together. she will also be the first public defender to become a supreme court justice. >> that's quite significant. the supreme court decides hugely consequential cases involving the rights of criminal defendants. so i do think that's going to

change the dynamics in the many criminal cases that the court hears and resolves. >> reporter: she'll be the second working mother to serve on the highest court in the land. >> girls, i know it has not been easy as i have tried to navigate the challenges of juggling my career and motherhood. and i fully admit that i did not always get the balance right. but i hope that you've seen that with hard work, determination, and love, it can be done. >> reporter: judge jackson meeting one on one with 97 senators and sitting through 19 hours of confirmation hearings. >> it doesn't matter to me whether the argument is being made by the president of the united states or a death row inmate. what i'm doing is looking at the argument. i'm looking at the facts. >> reporter: hearings becoming a center stage for the country's current culture wars. republicans grilling her on her record and accusing her of being soft on crime. >> you twisted the law, and you

rewrote it so you could cut the sentence of a drug kingpin. >> you gave him three months. my question is do you aget it or not? >> reporter: senator ted cruz sitting by a stack of children's books, holding up passages of books like "anti-racist baby." >> do you agree that babies are racist? >> senator -- i do not believe that any child should be made to feel as though they are racist or though they are not valued or though they are less than, that they are victims that they are oppressors. >> reporter: many believe senator lindsey graham might vote for her after he had voted for the 51-year-old to become a d.c. circuit court of appeals judge. that didn't seem likely after his questioning. >> on a scale of 1 to 10, how faithful would you say you are? in terms of religion? >> senator, i am reluctant to

talk about my faith in this way. >> i wouldn't hold this confirmation process up as a model of civility. there were a number of members of the committee whose attacks on judge jackson were pretty baseless and quite aggressive and repetitive. >> reporter: new jersey democratic senator cory booker defending judge jackson. >> you have earned this spot. you are worthy. yo of today's yes votes coming from republicans. senator susan collins, lisa murkowski, and mitt romney. >> i hope we can get back to a time where we have bipartisan support for qualified supreme court nominees. because it's important for public confidence in the court. >> having spent time with her personally and reviewing her testimony before congress, i became convinced that she unless the mainstream. >> three republican votes, again in a moment in which it's very

difficult to ever achieve anything bipartisan in the senate, i do think that's quite significant. >> reporter: her impact is already being felt. >> here she is achieving the highest possible achievement a lawyer in this country could have. i think every american, if they sit back and think about that, should be proud. >> judge jackson has opened a lot of doors. people will think that, because there's a black woman on the supreme court now, there's no "youan bausehi alack woman that af today. our thanks to rachel. coming up, swinging for the stars. tiger woods' masterful comeback. for people living with h-i-v, keep being you. and ask your doctor about biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in certain adults. it's not a cure, but with one small pill,

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♪ after a near-fatal accident threatened to end tiger woods' career last year, almost no one predicted what would happen on a golf coors in augusta, georgia, today. the golfing legend out to win. >> you know he factored in what he just saw. >> do it! >> yeah, he did. >> reporter: a remarkable return for tiger woods. >> memory on 16. >> reporter: playing in the opening round of the masters tournament in augusta, georgia. >> now driving, tiger woods! >> the game loves tiger, and you see it everywhere you go. >> there's definitely a different feel in tournaments that he tees it up in. >> reporter: finishing the day 1

under par. >> unbelievable. >> reporter: landing him toward the top of the leaderboard. >> i felt good. you know, the whole idea was to keep pushing, but keep recovering. that's the hard part. >> he was amazing. considering everything he's gone through, to find himself able to complete a run at the masters, it was absolutely amazing. >> reporter: but it's not just that he finished the day under par. that's a win for most. it's the fact that he accomplished that just 14 months since a rollover car crash where the golfing legend nearly lost his right leg. >> you've got an afternoon tee time tomorrow. what do the next 16, 18 hours look like for you? >> lots of ice. >> watching him play the course today, how is he looking? >> he looks terrific. it's almost miraculous to see how smooth he looks walking around. >> reporter: the 46-year-old walking all 18 holes at augusta today, which is known for its hilly terrain.

ditching the nike brand he's paid to endorse, instead choosing a golf shoe by foot joy. >> i have very limited mobility. i needed something different, something that allowed me to be more stable. >> i think it's a story that transcends sports. this is way bigger than sports. >> reporter: jeff benedict coauthored the biography "tiger woods." >> 25 years ago, he became the youngest person to ever win the maste masters. now if he were to win, he'd be the oldest player to ever win. i think he's shown over the course of his life that he was built to do things that no one else can do. >> we have a rollover with someone trapped. >> reporter: being able to play in this year's tournament marks a major milestone for the golfer, who last february survived a devastating near-fatal car accident while speeding in los angeles. >> it's very fortunate mr. woods alive. e to come out of this - >> reporter: an open fracture shattered his right leg. doctors performed an emergency

surgery to insert screws, pins, and a metal rod into his shin. >> it's hard to imagine any human could have gotten out of that car alive. the whole discussion was about survival. nobody was talking about him actually returning to being a pro golfer. >> reporter: the crash looked to be a potential ender to a storied career. >> there it is! a win for the ages! >> reporter: a life filled with the highest of highs. rookie of the year in 1996. winning his first masters the next year at just 21 years old. he seemed to dominate the golf world, becoming the only player to win four consecutive major pro golf titles. known as the tiger slam. >> tiger woods is golf. watch the television ratings when tiger woods doesn't play. watch the television ratings when he does play. watch the bars when tiger woods is on the field. there is no one right now that i've identified that comes close to captivating an audience like

tiger woods. >> reporter: but with all those highs came some of the lowest of lows. the squeaky-clean image began to crack with this now-infamous 2009 scene. >> and it turned out then the car accident had been the end of his driveway. he'd run into a fire hydrant and a tree. and that bizarre incident triggered a scandal the likes of which we have rarely seen in sports. >> reporter: it set off a tidal wave of negative publicity for woods, who became embroiled in an infidelity scandal leading to his divorce. >> that was the downfall of tiger woods. all self-induced. a personal scandal changed the perception of tiger for many, many people. >> reporter: while managing to mask the troubles through his triumphs, he's accumulated a history of injuries. each one seeming to put his career in jeopardy. >> golf is a sneaky, physically demanding sport. you don't really take toll of all the walking and the swinging

has on your body, particularly on your core and your lower back. >> we're talking about someone who's been through four major back surgeries during his golf career. the pain of those rehabs plus some major knee surgeries. tiger has the pain threshold of a linebacker. >> reporter: but then, in 2019, he showed the world why you should never bet against him. >> the return to glory. >> reporter: following his fourth back surgery, he won his fifth green jacket in fairytale fashion. embracing his son charlie on the 18th green, reminiscent of the moment he shared with his late father earl after his first masters win. do you think people want to see another tiger comeback? >> i don't think there's any question. i mean, because of all that he's gone through over the last ten-plus years, watching tiger go through that, it humanized him in ways that weren't there before. and so i think now more than ever, yeah, people want to see

him come back. >> reporter: but this road to recovery has been long and painful for woods, who told "golf digest" in a november interview that his days as a full-time pro golfer were over. >> something that is realistic is playing the tour one day. never full-time ever again. unfortunate reality, but it's my reality. and i understand it, i accept it. >> reporter: then last december, roughly ten months after his accident, he returned to the fairway with charlie for his first competitive golf event since the crash. >> it's frustrating when i don't hit the ball as far as i know that i can. and the shots that i see just don't come off the way that i want. >> reporter: despite those challenges, the father-son duo went on to win second place at the tournament. off the course, another momentous achievement. just last month, woods was inducted into the world golf hall of fame. >> without the sacrifices of mom -- who took me to golf

tournaments. dad, who's not he, but work hic. chase after my dreams. nothing's ever going to be given to you. everything's going to be earned. >> reporter: today one of the most accomplished athletes of all time meeting what is arguably his greatest challenge yet. >> do you think you can win the masters this week? >> i do. >> let's see what happens day two. it was a tremendous first round. it was a tremendous first day. but now comes the hard part. can you do it again? >> incredible to watch. up next, an unexpected gift to one baby's guardian angels. my a1c stayed here, it needed to be here. ruby's a1c is down with rybelsus®.

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♪ and finally tonight, baby's first responders. baby zamila camilla miracle garrett arrived way ahead of schedule. mom, katana garrett, of columbia, tennessee, unexpectedly giving birth at 25 weeks. the baby girl having trouble breathing, but then arriving on scene, two guardian angels. paramedics cody hill and jamie rowan jumping into action, saving her life. garrett forever grateful, and bestowing the greatest gift of thanks, naming hill and rowan as her daughter's godparents.

some quick thinking and a new chosen family. that is "nightline" tonight. you can watch full episodes on hulu. we'll see you back here at the same time tomorrow. i'm stephanie ramos. thank you for watching. good night.