About Ketanji Brown Jackson

Country of Birth

United States

Industry

Politics and law

Top achievements

Ketanji Brown Jackson served as a federal public defender, a federal judge, and on the United States Sentencing Commission. President Barack Obama nominated her to join the U.S. District Court in 2012. In 2022, President Joe Biden nominated her to become an associate justice on the United States Supreme Court. She was the first black woman appointed as a justice on the Supreme Court.

Early life

Ketanji Brown Jackson was born in September, 1970, as Ketanji Onyika Brown in Washington, D.C. Her parents, Johnny and Ellery Brown, were public school teachers. When Brown was young, the family moved to Miami, Florida, where she attended public schools. Brown excelled at school and served as class president. 

After school, she enrolled at Harvard University, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in government in 1992. Brown Jackson worked as a researcher and journalist at Time Magazine for a year before returning to her studies at Harvard Law School. She graduated with a Juris Doctor degree in 1996. 

Career

Brown Jackson completed law school and began working for Judge Patti B. Saris at the United States District Court as a law clerk for the District of Massachusetts. In 1997, she worked for Judge Bruce M. Selya at the United States Court of Appeals. The following year, Brown moved to a private practice law firm, Miller, Cassidy, Larroca, & Lewin. In 1999 she was appointed as a clerk for United States Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. 

From 2000 to 2003, Brown Jackson worked for private law firms, including Goodwin Procter and Kenneth Feinberg. From 2003 to 2005, she worked for the United States Sentencing Commission as an assistant special counsel, after which she became an assistant federal public defender in Washington, D.C., at the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, where she was responsible for reviewing selected cases. 

Nominated for the Supreme Court 

In February 2022, President Joe Biden nominated Brown Jackson to fill the Supreme Court seat after Justice Stephen Breyer retired. In April 2022, the United States Senate voted to confirm her appointment. 

Achievements

Ketanji Brown Jackson was the first black woman to receive an appointment at the Supreme Court. She was also the first federal public defender appointed to the court and the first justice after Thurgood Marshall to represent criminal defendants. 

One of Brown’s most notable cases was the 2019 ruling that President Donald Trump’s former counsel could not use privilege to avoid a congressional subpoena. In her decision, Brown noted, “Presidents are not kings.”

Recognition

Brown Jackson was instrumental in shaping federal sentencing policies when federal prisons were over capacity. Her efforts helped the commission agree to grant lower federal drug sentences and retroactive relief.

Additional facts

• In high school, Brown Jackson shared her goal of receiving a judicial appointment in her high school yearbook.
• Her father left his job as a teacher to achieve a law degree and went on to become the chief attorney for the Miami-Dade school system.
• She achieved two degrees from Harvard.
• She is also married to a fellow Harvard alum, and the couple have two children.