Biden taps Ketanji Brown Jackson for U.S. Supreme Court

Judge Ketanji Brown-Jackson

Judge Ketanji Brown-Jackson

U.S. President Joe Biden has nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first black woman, to serve as the next Justice on the Supreme Court.

In a tweet announcing the nomination, Biden said:

“I’m proud to announce that I am nominating Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the Supreme Court. Currently serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, she is one of our nation’s brightest legal minds and will be an exceptional Justice”.

Judge Jackson was born 14 September 1970 in Washington, DC and grew up in Miami, Florida.

Her parents attended segregated primary schools, then attended historically black colleges and universities.

Both started their careers as public school teachers and became leaders and administrators in the Miami-Dade Public School System.

When Judge Jackson was in preschool, her father attended law school. In a 2017 lecture, Judge Jackson traced her love of the law back to sitting next to her father in their apartment as he tackled his law school homework—reading cases and preparing for Socratic questioning—while she undertook her preschool homework—colouring books.

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Judge Jackson stood out as a high achiever throughout her childhood. She was a speech and debate star who was elected “mayor” of Palmetto Junior High and student body president of Miami Palmetto Senior High School.

But like many Black women, Judge Jackson still faced naysayers. When Judge Jackson told her high school guidance counsellor she wanted to attend Harvard, the guidance counsellor warned that Judge Jackson should not set her “sights so high.”

That did not stop Judge Jackson. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University, then attended Harvard Law School, where she graduated cum laude and was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.

Judge Jackson lives with her husband, Patrick, and their two daughters, in Washington, DC.

At present Judge Jackson sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit

She had served as Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

She was also Vice Chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, a Public defender
and Supreme Court Clerk.

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