Introducing “a fierce defender of reproductive freedom”, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson
““I hope to inspire people to try to follow this path, because I love this country, because I love the law, because I think it is important that we all invest in our future. And the young people are the future.””
Ketanji Brown Jackson is the first African American woman to be a judge on the Supreme Court. She was nominated by President Biden on February 25, 2022 and just recently started her first term. She was born in Washington D.C. and grew up in Miami where her parents were leaders in the administration of the Miami-Dade public school system. Her love for the law developed at a young age, when she would sit with and read about her dad’s homework for law school. Justice Jackson wanted to go to Harvard University, but she was not supported by her school, as they did not have faith in her. Alas she prevailed, graduating magna cum laude from Harvard University and cum laude from Harvard Law School. With Judge Jackson’s diverse background and former experience on the Supreme Court as a law clerk, she will serve as an impartial judge, applying the law fairly to everyone.
What does Justice Jackson’s appointment mean for the future of reproductive rights? It is not exactly clear how Justice Jackson will vote on reproductive rights, but she does believe in a liberal approach to originalism: the way of interpreting the Constitution during the time it was written. This is usually a more conservative approach, but Justice Jackson proposes a new way of thinking and is aligned with the liberal side of the Court. As Justice Jackson is a junior justice, she does not have a huge position of power on the court, but it was proven that she spoke the most (11,000 words) as a junior justice in her first hearings. She will not have an immediate impact on the court, but she will become more powerful as the majority shifts down the line. In terms of reproductive rights issues, NARAL Pro-Choice America has endorsed her appointment and described her as a potentially “fierce defender of reproductive freedom for decades to come.”
There are many important cases coming up that Justice Jackson will vote in. Some of these include whether the state legislature should have an outsized role in setting the rules in a federal election, determining the legality of race-based policies in college admissions, and deciding if an online web design company can refuse service to a same-sex couple. As Justice Jackson assumes her new role on the Supreme Court, she is ready to be part of the family that the Supreme Court welcomes her into.
Sources:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/kbj/
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/10/us/politics/jackson-alito-kagan-supreme-court-originalism.html
https://people.com/politics/ketanji-brown-jackson-moved-confirmation-hearing-cory-booker-speech/
