Who is Ketanji Brown Jackson (Biography)
The nomination of Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace Associate Justice Stephen Breyer is anticipated to be announced by President Joe Biden on Friday.
On Friday morning, media outlets reported that Biden would nominate Jackson to replace Breyer, the Court’s senior liberal, who is resigning.
Jackson will be the first Black woman, third Black person, and sixth woman to ever hold a position on the nation’s highest court if the Senate, which is evenly divided, confirms her.
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Introduction of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has a reputable background as a lawyer and judge. Bipartisan backing allowed the U.S. Senate to confirm her three times. She was confirmed to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 2021 after serving for eight and a half years on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Her track record as a judge shows that she is a just and unbiased jurist who is steadfastly committed to upholding the constitutional rights of every person. Judge Jackson worked as a federal judge before serving on the U.S. Sentencing Commission and the Office of the Federal Public Defender in the District of Columbia.
Who is Ketanji Brown Jackson?
Jackson, 51, serves as a judge on the D.C. Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals. Biden put out her name for the job last year, and on June 14, 2021, the Senate confirmed her by a vote of 53 to 44.
Jackson was given the name Ketanji Onyika Brown in 1970 in Washington, D.C. In 1996, she wed physician Patrick Jackson.
Two daughters, Talia, 21, and Leila, 17, were born to the couple. Jackson attended Miami Palmetto Senior High School before her parents relocated to south Florida when she was a little girl.
She earned a degree in government from Harvard University in 1992. Jackson earned her law degree from Harvard Law School in 1996 after working as a correspondent for Time magazine for a year.
Additionally a Harvard alum, Patrick Jackson does general surgery at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.
Jackson had three clerkships to start her legal career, including one for Justice Breyer from 1999 to 2000. From 2000 to 2002, she worked as a private attorney in Boston, Massachusetts.
From 2003 to 2005, she served as the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s assistant special counsel. Jackson then worked in Washington, D.C., as an associate public defender from 2005 to 2007.
From 2007 until 2010, Jackson worked as a private attorney in Washington, D.C. After that, he was vice-chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission. In 2009, former President Barack Obama proposed her for the commission; she was confirmed by the Senate in 2010 and served in that capacity until 2014.
Jackson was nominated by Obama in 2012 for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and the Senate approved her appointment in 2013. She served on the court until 2021, when she was promoted to the Court of Appeals.
Jackson was confirmed as attorney general before Merrick Garland’s appointment to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Legal Experience of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson
Judge Jackson worked as a litigation associate at Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin LLP following her first two clerkships. Judge Jackson worked for Goodwin Procter LLP after serving as Justice Breyer’s law clerk, where she defended clients in both criminal and civil appeals. Judge Jackson wrote an amicus brief in the McGuire v. Reilly case supporting a six-foot floating buffer zone law on behalf of women’s rights organizations with a Massachusetts presence, such as the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts and the YWCA of Cambridge.
Judge Jackson’s position was upheld by a three-judge First Circuit panel unanimously in an opinion written by Reagan appointee Bruce Selya. The Supreme Court later declined to consider the case. More information about her work on this subject is provided below. She was an associate at the company that is now Feinberg LLP.
Judicial experience of Ketanji Brown Jackson
Jackson was nominated by President Barack Obama for a position as a district court judge in Washington, D.C., near the close of his first term, and she was approved in early 2013. In the wake of the 2016 passing of Justice Antonin Scalia, he also spoke with her in regards to a possible nomination.
Biden included her in one of his initial slates of nominees for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in March 2021, and she was formally raised last summer.
Jackson has not yet amassed a sizable body of work as a circuit judge because of her recent ascent. She authored the ruling on behalf of a three-judge panel that overturned the Federal Labor Relations Authority’s attempt to permit government entities to make workplace adjustments without first consulting the relevant public-sector unions in early February. Trump’s attempt to prevent the release of documents from his White House pertaining to January 6, 2021 was also rejected by the judge.
Personal life of Ketanji Brown Jackson
Jackson is wed to surgeon Patrick Jackson, whom she met while attending Harvard. Talia and Leila, their two children, were born to them.
Michael Jackson and former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan are related through their respective families. Ryan, who is a member of Congress, testified in favor of her nomination to the district court since her husband’s twin is Ryan’s brother-in-law.