According to CNN, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson highlighted her faith and family during her introduction to lawmakers during her Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Before expressing her gratitude and love for different members of her family, Jackson remarked on Monday, “Even previous to today, I can honestly say that my life has been blessed beyond measure.
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will officially step down, making room for the swearing-in of his successor, who will become the 116th person to be nominated to the country’s highest legal body. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was formally confirmed in April. She will hold the position of the court’s first Black woman. Here is everything you need to know about this barrier-breaking woman as she gets ready to start her new position.
Education And Career Background Of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson
Jackson earned both her undergraduate and legal education at Harvard, where she earned her law degree in 1996. After that, she served in three different positions as a clerk for federal judges, including one under Justice Stephen Breyer from 1999 to 2000, who she would shortly succeed on the Supreme Court.
In a 2017 speech at the University of Georgia, Jackson said that although she briefly worked at a Boston law firm, she found it challenging to balance the demands of the job with taking care of her children.
Before going back to corporate law, she served as a federal public defender from 2005 to 2007. From 2013 to 2021, she also served as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit. She has now replaced Merrick Garland, who resigned the position to become the U.S. Attorney General, on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Facts On The Family Of Ketanji Brown Jackson
51-year-old Jackson raise in South Florida. According to the New York Times, her parents were both educators in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools district before her mother became a principal and her father worked as a lawyer for the school board. Jackson acknowledged in her University of Georgia lecture that it was her father who first sparked her interest in law at an early age. She even expressed her desire to “get a judicial appointment” in her high school yearbook.
While attending Harvard, Jackson and her husband, Patrick Jackson became friends. At MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC, Jackson employ full-time as a general surgeon. Talia, age 21, and Leila, age 17, are their two daughters.
Additionally, she married to Paul Ryan, a former House speaker, and vice presidential candidate. As a district court judge who testified during Jackson’s confirmation hearing in 2012, Ryan described her as “clearly qualified.”
Her Legal Strategy
Jackson isn’t likely to change the political balance of the Supreme Court of the United States since, according to legal analysts, she will be rough as left-leaning as Justice Stephen Breyer, who she will succeed. She has also received praise for “building consensus,” similarly to Breyer. She is known for being a meticulous judge who is also passionate during arguments. However, she anticipated to succeed as a person with in-depth knowledge of criminal law and sentencing guidelines because she is the first justice with experience in public defense.