Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51, appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee this month after being nominated by President Biden to replace Justice Stephen Breyer, who announced his retirement earlier this year.
Much of Judge Jackson’s early career was informed by experiences as a student at Harvard University and Harvard Law School, where she confronted questions of race and identity within the most elite circles of higher education. She earned her law degree in 1996.
After graduation, she held three clerkships with federal judges, including in 1999 as a clerk to Justice Breyer, who she is now under consideration to succeed more than 20 years later.
From 2005-2007 she also worked as a federal public defender, a role in which she helped Khi Ali Gul, an Afghan detainee held at Guantánamo Bay, petition for his release. If confirmed, Judge Jackson would be the modern court’s first justice with experience as a public defender.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has spent much of her career in Washington, serving as a judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit from 2013 to 2021, and currently the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She replaced Merrick B. Garland, who joined the Justice Department as Attorney General, on the Court of Appeals last year, and was confirmed by a vote of 53-44.
As a federal judge in Washington, Judge Jackson has presided over several politically charged cases. In 2017, she sentenced the gunman who stormed a Washington pizzeria targeted by “Pizzagate” conspiracy theorists to four years in prison. She also ruled in 2019 that Donald F. McGahn II, the former White House counsel, would be required to testify before House impeachment investigators considering articles of impeachment against President Donald J. Trump.
Judge Jackson is married to Dr. Patrick Graves Jackson, a surgeon who she met while studying at Harvard. They have two daughters.
She is also related by marriage to a former House Speaker and Republican vice-presidential nominee, Paul Ryan. His sister-in-law, Dana Little Jackson, is married to Dr. Jackson’s twin brother, William Jackson.
5 Facts About Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson
1. Judge Jackson replaces former Justice Stephen Breyer, the justice for whom she clerked from 1999 to 2000. Judge Jackson’s clerkship experience provided her with an insider’s view of the operations of the court, as well as de knowledge of Justice Breyer’s consensus-building approach to the role of justice.
2. The Senate has confirmed Judge Jackson three times. She was confirmed to the U.S. Sentencing Commission in 2009. She received bipartisan support for her appointment to the District of Columbia Circuit Court in 2013 and unanimous support for her appointment to the District of Columbia District Court in 2021.
3. Judge Jackson currently sits on the District of Columbia Circuit Court, which is widely considered the second-most-important court in the United States. Multiple Supreme Court justices, including former Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Chief Justice John Roberts, served on the circuit court prior to their appointments to the Supreme Court.
4. Judge Jackson has more experience than four of the current justices combined, but she is also be the first and only justice with experience as a public defender. Judge Jackson served as an assistant public defender from February 2005 to June 2007, before returning to work in corporate law. As a 2020 report from the Center for American Progress outlined, judges with more diverse professional experience improve jurisprudence so that it better acknowledges people’s unique lived experiences. Judge Jackson’s experience as a public defender deepens her understanding of the U.S. justice system and how it touches peoples lives.
5. Justice Jackson has received numerous awards throughout her career. In 2021, Columbia University’s Law School awarded her its Constance Baker Motley Award for empowering women of color, “advancing the rights of people,” and demonstrating a “legacy of giving back to the community.” In her acceptance speech, Judge Jackson stated that “the responsibility” of being a judge means “doing the work that is necessary to protect the rule of law and to promote equality and justice for all.”
It is vital that the United States has fair-minded justices who are deeply committed to its principles of equality and justice for all. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s eminent qualifications represent her dedication to protecting and advancing human and civil rights. By confirming her to the U.S. Supreme Court, Congress would help ensure the court works for everyone.
ABOUT Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Nomination
1. After a bruising set of hearings, Democrats are united behind Judge Jackson. The backing of Senator Joe Manchin III signaled that all 50 Senate Democrats would support her nomination, which Republicans would be unable to stop.
2. Republicans showed deep—but not total—opposition. G.O.P. senators attacked Judge Jackson for her record and grilled her on a host of divisive issues during the contentious hearings. Senator Susan Collings said she would support the Judge’s nomination.
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