# Ketanji Brown Jackson *American jurist, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States* Ketanji Onyika Brown Jackson (née Brown; born September 14, 1970) is an American lawyer and judge who sits as an associate justice of the [[Supreme Court of the United States]].[^1] President Joe Biden named her as his nominee on February 25, 2022. The [[United States Senate]] confirmed her later that year, and she took the oath of office the same year.[^1] She is the sixth woman on the Court, the first Black woman to serve there, and the first justice to have worked as a federal public defender.[^1] Before joining the Court, Jackson was vice chair of the United States Sentencing Commission from 2010 to 2014. President Barack Obama appointed her to the federal district bench in Washington, D.C., in 2013, and Biden elevated her to the D.C. Circuit in 2021.[^1] She sat on the Harvard Board of Overseers from 2016 to 2022. She is counted, with justices [[Elena Kagan]] and [[Sonia Sotomayor]], among the Court's liberal wing.[^1] ## Early life and education Jackson was born in Washington, D.C., on September 14, 1970. Both of her parents were teachers who had attended historically Black colleges and universities.[^1] She grew up in Miami, Florida, and attended Miami Palmetto Senior High School. In her senior year there she won the national oratory title at the National Catholic Forensic League championships.[^1] She finished at Palmetto in 1988 as president of the senior class.[^1] She then went to Harvard University, where she studied government. She completed both her undergraduate degree and her law degree at Harvard and was an editor of the *Harvard Law Review*.[^1] ## Early career Jackson held two clerkships after law school. She served Judge Patti B. Saris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in 1996–1997, then Judge Bruce M. Selya of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in 1997–1998.[^1] After a year at the Washington firm Miller Cassidy Larroca & Lewin, she clerked for Justice [[Stephen Breyer]] in 1999–2000.[^1] She practiced at Goodwin Procter from 2000 to 2002, and then worked under Kenneth Feinberg from 2002 to 2003.[^1] She was assistant special counsel to the United States Sentencing Commission from 2003 to 2005.[^1] From 2005 to 2007 she worked in Washington, D.C., as an assistant federal public defender, arguing cases before the D.C. Circuit. A review of those cases by *The [[Washington Post]]* reported that "she won uncommon victories against the government that shortened or erased lengthy prison terms".[^1] From 2007 to 2010 she was an appellate specialist at Morrison & Foerster.[^1] ## United States Sentencing Commission (2010–2014) Obama nominated Jackson as the commission's vice chair on July 23, 2009.[^1] The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced the nomination by voice vote on November 5, 2009. The full Senate confirmed her by voice vote on February 11, 2010.[^1] She took the seat previously held by Michael E. Horowitz and remained on the commission until 2014.[^1] During her tenure the commission adopted two changes. It lowered the guideline range for crack cocaine offenses, applying the change retroactively. It also adopted the "drugs minus two" amendment, which cut drug-crime offense levels by two.[^1] ## District Court (2013–2021) Obama nominated Jackson on September 20, 2012, to the D.C. district court seat left open by the retirement of Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr.[^1] At her December 2012 hearing she was introduced by Representative Paul Ryan, a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] related to her by marriage.[^1] The Judiciary Committee approved the nomination by voice vote on February 14, 2013. The Senate confirmed her by voice vote on March 22, and she received her commission on March 26.[^1] Breyer administered her oath in May 2013. She left the district court on June 17, 2021, on her elevation to the appeals court.[^1] Several of her district court decisions went against positions taken by the Trump administration. In ordering former White House counsel Don McGahn to comply with a congressional subpoena, she wrote that "presidents are not kings".[^1] In 2019 she held that provisions of three Trump executive orders conflicted with the collective-bargaining rights of federal employees. The D.C. Circuit unanimously reversed that ruling.[^1] The D.C. Circuit also reversed a second 2019 ruling of hers, in a challenge involving a [[Department of Homeland Security]] decision.[^1] ## United States Court of Appeals (2021–2022) Biden announced on March 30, 2021, that he would nominate Jackson to the D.C. Circuit. The nomination reached the Senate on April 19.[^1] The seat had been vacated by Merrick Garland when he became Attorney General.[^1] The American Bar Association rated her "well qualified with no recusals or abstentions".[^1] The Judiciary Committee held her hearing on April 28, 2021. Senators asked her about several of her rulings against the Trump administration.[^1] The committee advanced her nomination 13–9 on May 20. On June 10 the Senate invoked cloture 52–46.[^1] On June 14 the Senate confirmed her 53–44. All 50 Democrats voted yes, joined by Republican senators Susan Collins, Lindsey Graham and Lisa Murkowski.[^1] She received her commission on June 17, 2021, and her circuit service ended on June 29, 2022.[^1] She wrote two majority opinions on that court: *American Federation of Government Employees v. FLRA* and *Wye Oak Technology, Inc. v. Republic of Iraq*.[^1] ## Nomination to the Supreme Court Obama administration officials vetted Jackson in early 2016 for the vacancy created by the death of Justice [[Antonin Scalia]]. She was one of five candidates interviewed.[^1] During the 2020 campaign, Biden had pledged to name a Black woman to the Court if a seat opened.[^1] Civil rights and liberal advocacy groups backed her possible nomination, while Republican Party leaders and senators opposed it.[^1] Biden named Jackson as his nominee on February 25, 2022, and sent the nomination to the Senate on February 28. The Judiciary Committee held her hearing on March 21.[^1] The committee split 11–11 on the nomination. The Senate then voted 53–47 to discharge the committee, and voted 53–47 the next day to take up the nomination.[^1] ## United States Supreme Court (2022–present) Breyer's retirement took effect at noon on June 30, 2022, and Jackson took the oath that day.[^1] On September 28, 2022, she was assigned as circuit justice for the First Circuit.[^1] Her first vote came on July 21, 2022. She joined the dissent in a 5–4 order that left in place a district court ruling blocking the Biden administration's new immigration enforcement priorities.[^1] Her first oral argument as a justice was on October 3, 2022, in *Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency*.[^1] Her first written opinion came on November 7, 2022: a two-page dissent from the denial of review in *Chinn v. Shoop*, a death-row case, joined by Sotomayor.[^1] Two SCOTUSBlog contributors counted her as the most active questioner at oral argument from the 2022 term onward. She averaged 1,350 words per argument; each of the other eight justices averaged fewer than 1,000.[^1] Her first majority opinion, for a unanimous Court, was *Delaware v. Pennsylvania*, issued February 28, 2023. The case concerned how unclaimed MoneyGram funds are divided among states.[^1] In *Trump v. CASA* (2025), Justice [[Amy Coney Barrett]] wrote of Jackson's dissent: "Justice Jackson decries an imperial Executive while embracing an imperial Judiciary."[^1] On July 8, 2025, in *AFGE v. Trump*, the Court issued an 8–1 emergency order in the administration's favor on its reorganization of the federal workforce.[^1] ## Personal life In 1996 Jackson married Patrick Graves Jackson, a surgeon she met at Harvard College. They have two daughters.[^1] Her husband descends from Continental Congress delegate Jonathan Jackson and is related to Justice [[Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.]][^1] Her marriage also makes her a relative of former House speaker Paul Ryan.[^1] Jackson is a non-denominational Protestant.[^1] Her memoir, *Lovely One*, was published by Random House on September 3, 2024. Her recording of it was nominated for Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling at the 2026 Grammy Awards.[^1] She serves on the Judicial Conference Committee on Defender Services and on the Council of the American Law Institute.[^1] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Ketanji Brown Jackson* (revision 1380113300, retrieved 2026-10-26) — biographical, career, nomination and confirmation facts; no primary source for these facts is in the record. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketanji_Brown_Jackson