Ketanji Brown Jackson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ketanji Brown Jackson
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Official portrait, 2022
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| Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States | |
| Assumed office June 30, 2022 |
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| Nominated by | Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | Stephen Breyer |
| Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit | |
| In office June 17, 2021 – June 29, 2022 |
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| Nominated by | Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | Merrick Garland |
| Succeeded by | Florence Y. Pan |
| Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia | |
| In office March 26, 2013 – June 17, 2021 |
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| Nominated by | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Henry H. Kennedy Jr. |
| Succeeded by | Florence Y. Pan |
| Vice Chair of the United States Sentencing Commission | |
| In office February 12, 2010 – December 2014 |
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| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Rubén Castillo |
| Succeeded by | L. Felipe Restrepo |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Ketanji Onyika Brown
September 14, 1970 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Spouse |
Patrick Jackson
(m. 1996) |
| Relations | Calvin Ross (uncle) |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Harvard University (BA, JD) |
| Signature |  |
Ketanji Onyika Brown Jackson (née Brown; /kəˈtɑːndʒi/ kə-TAHN-jee; born September 14, 1970) is an American lawyer and jurist who is an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Jackson was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Joe Biden on February 25, 2022, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate and sworn into office that same year. She is the first black woman and the first former federal public defender to serve on the Supreme Court. From 2021 to 2022, Jackson was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Jackson was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Miami, Florida. She received her undergraduate and legal education at Harvard University, where she served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review, and clerked for Justice Stephen Breyer, whose seat she later assumed on the Supreme Court. From 2010 to 2014, Jackson was the vice chairwoman of the United States Sentencing Commission. In 2013, President Barack Obama appointed her as a district judge for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, where she served until 2021. Since 2016, Jackson has been a member of the Harvard Board of Overseers.
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Early life and education
Jackson was born on September 14, 1970, in Washington, D.C., to parents who had been educated at historically black colleges and universities. Her father, Johnny Brown, also attended the University of Miami School of Law and became chief attorney for the Miami-Dade County School Board. Her mother, Ellery, was school principal at the New World School of the Arts in Miami. One of her uncles, Calvin Ross, served as the chief of the Miami Police Department.
Jackson grew up in Miami and attended Miami Palmetto Senior High School. She distinguished herself as a champion debater, winning the national oratory title at the National Catholic Forensic League championships in New Orleans during her senior year. She has recalled her experience with high school debate as one "that I can say without hesitation was the one activity that best prepared me for future success in law and in life." In 1988, Jackson graduated from Palmetto as senior class president. In her high school yearbook, she was quoted as saying that she wanted "to go into law and eventually have a judicial appointment".
After high school, Jackson matriculated at Harvard University to study government, having applied despite her guidance counselor's advice to set her sights lower. She took classes in drama and performed improv comedy, forming a diverse friend group. As a member of the Black Students Association, she led protests against a student who displayed a Confederate flag from his dormitory window and protested the lack of full-time professors in the Afro-American Studies Department. While a freshman, Jackson enrolled in Michael Sandel's course Justice, which she has called a major influence during her undergraduate years. She graduated from Harvard in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude.
From 1992 to 1993, Jackson worked as a staff reporter and researcher for Time magazine. She then attended Harvard Law School, where she was a supervising editor of the Harvard Law Review, graduating in 1996 with a Juris Doctor, cum laude.
Early career
After law school, Jackson served as a law clerk to Judge Patti B. Saris of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts from 1996 to 1997, then to Judge Bruce M. Selya of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit from 1997 to 1998. She spent a year in private practice at the Washington, D.C., law firm of Miller Cassidy Larroca & Lewin (now part of Baker Botts), then clerked for Justice Stephen Breyer from 1999 to 2000.
Jackson returned to private legal practice at the law firm of Goodwin Procter from 2000 to 2002, then under Kenneth Feinberg at the law firm now called Feinberg & Rozen LLP from 2002 to 2003. From 2003 to 2005, she was an assistant special counsel to the United States Sentencing Commission. From 2005 to 2007, Jackson was an assistant federal public defender in Washington, D.C., where she handled cases before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. A review by The Washington Post of cases Jackson handled during her time as a public defender showed that "she won uncommon victories against the government that shortened or erased lengthy prison terms". From 2007 to 2010, Jackson was an appellate specialist in private practice at the law firm of Morrison & Foerster.
U.S. Sentencing Commission (2010–2014)
On July 23, 2009, President Obama nominated Jackson as vice chair of the United States Sentencing Commission. The Senate Judiciary Committee favorably reported her nomination by voice vote on November 5, 2009. The Senate confirmed her nomination by voice vote on February 11, 2010. She succeeded Michael E. Horowitz, who had served from 2003 until 2009. Jackson served on the Sentencing Commission until 2014.
District Court (2013–2021)
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On September 20, 2012, Obama nominated Jackson to serve as a United States district judge for the District of Columbia to the seat vacated by retiring judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. Republican U.S. Representative Paul Ryan, a relative by marriage, introduced Jackson at her December 2012 confirmation hearing and said, "Our politics may differ, but my praise for Ketanji's intellect, for her character, for her integrity, it is unequivocal." On February 14, 2013, the Senate Judiciary Committee favorably reported her nomination by voice vote. She was confirmed by the Senate by voice vote on March 22, received her commission on March 26, and was sworn in by Justice Breyer in May. Her service as a district judge ended on June 17, 2021, when she was elevated to the court of appeals.
During her time on the district court, Jackson wrote multiple decisions adverse to the positions of the Trump administration. In her opinion ordering Trump's former White House counsel Don McGahn to comply with a legislative subpoena, she wrote that "presidents are not kings". Jackson handled a number of challenges to executive agency actions that raised questions of administrative law. She also issued rulings in several cases that gained particular political attention.
Bloomberg Law reported in spring 2021 that conservative activists were pointing to certain decisions by Jackson that had been reversed on appeal as a "potential blemish on her record". In 2019, Jackson ruled that provisions in three Trump executive orders conflicted with federal employee rights to collective bargaining. Her decision was reversed unanimously by the D.C. Circuit. The D.C. Circuit also reversed another 2019 decision, involving a challenge to a Department of Homeland Security decision to expand the agency's definition of which non-citizens can be deported. Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron defended Jackson's record, saying she "has written nearly 600 opinions and been reversed less than twelve times".
U.S. Court of Appeals (2021–2022)
On March 30, 2021, President Biden announced his intention to nominate Jackson as a United States circuit judge for the District of Columbia Circuit. On April 19, 2021, her nomination was sent to the Senate. Biden nominated Jackson to the seat vacated by Judge Merrick Garland, who had stepped down to become U.S. Attorney General. The American Bar Association appraised Jackson as "well qualified with no recusals or abstentions".
On April 28, 2021, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. During her confirmation hearing, Jackson was questioned about several of her rulings against the Trump administration. On May 20, Jackson's nomination was reported out of committee by a 13–9 vote. On June 8, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer filed cloture on her nomination. On June 10, the Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 52–46 vote. On June 14, her nomination was confirmed by a 53–44 vote. Republican senators Susan Collins, Lindsey Graham, and Lisa Murkowski joined all 50 Democrats in voting to confirm Jackson. She received her judicial commission on June 17, 2021. Her service as a circuit judge ended on June 29, 2022, the day before she was sworn in as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
In her first written opinion for the court of appeals, Jackson, joined by the rest of the panel, invalidated a 2020 rule by the Federal Labor Relations Authority that had restricted the bargaining power of federal-sector labor unions.
Nomination to the Supreme Court
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In early 2016, Obama administration officials vetted Jackson as a potential nominee to the Supreme Court of the United States to fill the vacancy left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Jackson was one of five candidates interviewed as a potential nominee.
In early 2022, news outlets speculated that Biden would nominate Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court to fill the seat vacated by Justice Breyer. Biden pledged during the 2020 United States presidential election campaign to appoint a black woman to the court should a vacancy occur. Jackson's appointment to the D.C. Circuit, considered the second-most influential federal court, was viewed as preparation for a potential promotion to the Supreme Court.
Jackson's potential nomination to the Supreme Court was supported by civil rights and liberal advocacy organizations. Her potential nomination was opposed by Republican Party leaders and senators. The Washington Post wrote that Jackson's experience as a public defender "has endeared her to the more liberal base of the Democratic Party". While her supporters have touted her history as a public defender as an asset, during her 2021 confirmation hearing, Republicans tried to cast it as a liability.
On February 25, 2022, Biden announced that Jackson was his nominee to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court. Her nomination was sent to the Senate on February 28. Her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee was held on March 21. After the Judiciary Committee deadlocked on her nomination by an 11–11 vote, the Senate discharged the committee from further consideration of her nomination by a 53–47 vote. The next day, the Senate proceeded to the consideration of her nomination by a 53–47 vote, and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer then filed cloture on her nomination. On April 7, the Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 53–47 vote. Later that day, she was confirmed by the same margin. Republicans Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, and Susan Collins joined all Democrats in confirming Jackson to the Supreme Court. She received her judicial commission as an associate justice on April 8. She was sworn in and became an associate justice at noon on June 30, 2022, when Breyer's retirement went into effect.
U.S. Supreme Court (2022–present)
The Supreme Court released its final merit opinions on the morning of June 30, 2022. At noon, Breyer officially retired and Jackson was sworn in, becoming the first Black woman and the first former federal public defender to serve on the Supreme Court.
On July 21, Jackson voted on her first Supreme Court case, joining the dissent in a 5–4 decision refusing to block a district court ruling that prevented the Biden administration from setting new enforcement priorities for immigrants entering the U.S. or living in the country illegally. She participated in her first oral argument as an associate justice on October 3, in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency. On November 7 she wrote her first opinion, a two-page dissent from a denial of review in the case of a death row inmate in Chinn v. Shoop; the opinion was joined by Justice Sotomayor.
Two contributors to SCOTUSBlog noted that, since joining the Court at the beginning of the 2022 term, Jackson was the most active participant in oral arguments, speaking an average of 1,350 words per argument, while the eight other justices each spoke on average fewer than 1,000. On February 28, 2023, Jackson authored her first majority opinion for a unanimous court in Delaware v. Pennsylvania, which involved how unclaimed money from MoneyGrams are distributed among individual states.
On September 28, 2022, Jackson was assigned as the circuit justice for the First Circuit.
Labor disputes
In 2023, Jackson wrote the sole dissenting opinion in Glacier Northwest, Inc. v. Teamsters, concerning the power of employers to sue labor unions regarding the destruction of employer property following a strike. She wrote that the majority's decision failed "Congress's intent with respect to the Board's primary role in adjudicating labor disputes" and ran the risk of potential "erosion of the right to strike".
Affirmative action
Jackson dissented from the Supreme Court's ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina, the companion case to Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, which limited the use of racial preferences in university admissions. In her dissent, Jackson emphasized the relationship between Black Americans and the U.S. government, writing, "Our country has never been colorblind", and associating affirmative action as a corrective marker in reconciliation. In doing so, she expressed opposition to the majority's usage of the Equal Protection Clause, writing, "To impose this result in that Clause’s name when it requires no such thing, and to thereby obstruct our collective progress toward the full realization of the Clause’s promise, is truly a tragedy for us all".
Judicial philosophy
Jackson has said she does not have a particular judicial philosophy, but rather has a perspective on legal analysis or a "judicial methodology". Though she has not embraced the label, Jackson has expressed that she sees value in originalism, saying the "Constitution is fixed in its meaning", and has explicitly criticized living constitutionalism.
In January 2022, The New York Times reported that Jackson had "not yet written a body of appeals court opinions expressing a legal philosophy" because she had joined the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in the summer of 2021. However, The Times said, Jackson's earlier rulings "comported with those of a liberal-leaning judge", including her opinions blocking various Trump administration actions. Additionally, a review of over 500 of her judicial opinions indicated that she would likely be as liberal as Breyer, the justice she replaced.
According to Sahil Kapur, writing for NBC News, "Jackson fits well with the Democratic Party and the progressive movement's agenda" due to her relative youth, background as a public defender, and history of labor-friendly rulings.
Politico reported that "Jackson is popular with liberal legal activists looking to replace Breyer with a justice willing to engage in ideological combat with the court's conservatives."
Personal life
In 1996, Jackson married surgeon Patrick Graves Jackson, whom she met at Harvard College. He is a descendant of Continental Congress delegate Jonathan Jackson and is related to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. The couple have two daughters. Jackson is a non-denominational Protestant. In a 2017 speech, she said, "I am fairly certain that if you traced my family lineage back past my grandparents—who were raised in Georgia, by the way—you would find that my ancestors were slaves on both sides." Jackson's paternal ancestry can be traced to Houston County, Georgia, while her maternal ancestry can be traced to Calhoun County, Georgia. Through her marriage, Jackson is related to former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.
Affiliations
Jackson is a member of the Judicial Conference Committee on Defender Services as well as Harvard University's Board of Overseers and the Council of the American Law Institute. She also serves on the board of Georgetown Day School and the U.S. Supreme Court Fellows Commission.
From 2010 to 2011, she served on the advisory board of Montrose Christian School, a Baptist school. Jackson has served as a judge in several mock trials with the Shakespeare Theatre Company and for the Historical Society of the District of Columbia's Mock Court Program. In 2018, she presided over a mock trial hosted by Drexel University's Thomas R. Kline School of Law "to determine if Vice President Aaron Burr was guilty of murdering" Alexander Hamilton.
In 2017, Jackson presented at the University of Georgia School of Law's 35th Edith House Lecture. In 2018, she was a panelist at the National Constitution Center's town hall on Alexander Hamilton's legacy. In 2020, Jackson gave the Martin Luther King Jr. Day lecture at the University of Michigan Law School and was honored at the University of Chicago Law School's third annual Judge James B. Parsons Legacy Dinner, hosted by the school's Black Law Students Association. In 2022, she received the Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award, presented by Awards Council members Justice Amy Coney Barrett and retired Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Jackson became an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority in 2023.
See also
In Spanish: Ketanji Brown Jackson para niños
In Spanish: Ketanji Brown Jackson para niños
- Barack Obama Supreme Court candidates
- Demographics of the Supreme Court of the United States
- Joe Biden Supreme Court candidates
- List of African American federal judges
- List of African American jurists
- List of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States
- List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 2)
- List of United States Supreme Court justices by time in office
