Ketanji Brown Jackson chosen for Supreme Court
Published 5:00 am Thursday, April 14, 2022
- Ketanji Jackson was nominated by President Joe Biden in February. Screenshot provided by Whitehouse.gov
A bipartisan group of Senators confirmed Ketanji Brown Jackson on April 7 as the replacement for Justice Stephen Breyer. President Joe Biden nominated her in February.
According to a statement put out by the White House, Biden “sought a candidate with exceptional credentials, unimpeachable career and unwavering dedication to the rule of law.”
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Biden chose Jackson as the next Justice on the Supreme Court because of her far-reaching experience in the legal system. He sought for and found Jackson’s dedication to equal justice and a deep understanding of the impact of the Supreme Court’s decisions.
Jackson was one of Biden’s first judicial nominees. In 2021, she took the position with support from both parties as a court judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Jackson was confirmed as a district court judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 2013. She had been nominated by President Barack Obama in the previous year.
In 2010, she was chosen to serve as the vice chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission. There, her work was focused on ensuring similar cases were all receiving the same fair sentencing.
Before this, Jackson represented defendants who could not pay for a lawyer. She is the first former federal public defender to serve on the Supreme Court.
Her career after school began as a Supreme Court Clerk for Justice Breyer. According to information from the White House, this is where she “learned up close how important it is for a Supreme Court Justice to build consensus and speak to a mainstream understanding of the constitution.”
She attended Harvard University and Harvard Law School, where she received her bachelor’s and law degrees.
Jackson was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Miami, Fla. She now lives in Washington with her husband, Patrick, and their two daughters.
Her family also has a background in law; her father went to law school when she was young. Jackson said her passion for law came from sitting next to her father in their apartment while he did law school homework.
Her brother also served as a police officer in Baltimore after being deployed to Iraq and Egypt in the U.S. Army. Two of her uncles served as police officers in Miami.
