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Ketanji Brown Jackson

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Ketanji Brown Jackson.jpg
Alma Mater Harvard Law School

Ketanji Brown Jackson (born September 14, 1970)[1] is an American attorney and jurist serving as a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since 2021.[2]

Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Miami, Florida, Jackson attended Harvard University for college and law school, where she served as an editor on the Harvard Law Review. She began her legal career with three clerkships, including one with U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer. Prior to her elevation to an appellate court and from 2013 to 2021, she served as a district judge on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Jackson was also vice chair of the United States Sentencing Commission from 2010 to 2014. Since 2016, she has been a member of the Harvard Board of Overseers.

On February 25, 2022, President Joe Biden announced that Jackson was his nominee for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, filling the vacancy created upon Breyer's retirement.[3]

Early life and education

Jackson was born Ketanji Onyika Brown on September 14, 1970, in Washington, D.C.[4][5] Her parents were both graduates of historically Black colleges and universities.[6][4][7] Her father, Johnny Brown, was a lawyer who ultimately became the chief attorney for the Miami-Dade County School Board; her mother, Ellery, served as school principal at New World School of the Arts.[8][9] Jackson grew up in Miami, Florida, and graduated from Miami Palmetto Senior High School in 1988.[5] In her senior year (1988), she "won the national oratory title at the National Catholic Forensic League Championships in New Orleans, the second-largest high school debate tournament in the country."[10]

After high school, Jackson studied government at Harvard University, graduating in 1992 with an A.B. magna cum laude and writing a senior thesis titled "The Hand of Oppression: Plea Bargaining Processes and the Coercion of Criminal Defendants". When she was in college, her uncle was sentenced to life in prison due to a nonviolent cocaine conviction. Years later, Jackson persuaded a law firm to take his case pro bono, and President Barack Obama eventually commuted his sentence.[11] Another uncle, Calvin Ross, served as Miami's police chief.[8] During her time at Harvard, Jackson led protests against a student who displayed a Confederate flag from his dorm window.[12] She also performed improv comedy and took classes in drama.[13]

Jackson worked as a staff reporter and researcher for Time magazine from 1992 to 1993, then attended Harvard Law School, where she was a supervising editor of the Harvard Law Review. She graduated in 1996 with a Juris Doctor cum laude.[5][14]

Career

After law school, Jackson served as a law clerk to Judge Patti B. Saris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts from 1996 to 1997, then to Judge Bruce M. Selya of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit from 1997 to 1998. She spent a year in private practice at the Washington, D.C. law firm Miller Cassidy Larroca & Lewin (now part of Baker Botts), then clerked for Justice Stephen Breyer of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1999 to 2000.[5][15]

Jackson worked in private legal practice from 2000 to 2003.[16] From 2003 to 2005, she served as an assistant special counsel to the United States Sentencing Commission.[17] From 2005 to 2007, Jackson was an assistant federal public defender in Washington, D.C., where she handled cases before U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.[18] A Washington Post review of cases Jackson handled during her time as a public defender showed that "she won uncommon victories against the government that shortened or erased lengthy prison terms".[19] From 2007 to 2010, Jackson was an appellate specialist at Morrison & Foerster.[16][15]

U.S. Sentencing Commission

On July 23, 2009, Barack Obama nominated Jackson to become vice chair of the United States Sentencing Commission.[20] The U.S. Senate confirmed Jackson by unanimous consent on February 11, 2010. She succeeded Michael E. Horowitz, who had served from 2003 until 2009. Jackson served on the Sentencing Commission until 2014.[21][15] During her time on the Commission, it retroactively amended the Sentencing Guidelines to reduce the guideline range for crack cocaine offenses,[2] and enacted the "drugs minus two" amendment, which implemented a two offense-level reduction for drug crimes.[22]

District Court

On September 20, 2012, Obama nominated Jackson to serve as a judge for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to the seat vacated by retiring Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr.[23] Jackson was introduced at her December 2012 confirmation hearing by Republican Paul Ryan, a relative through marriage, who said "Our politics may differ, but my praise for Ketanji's intellect, for her character, for her integrity, it is unequivocal."[8] On February 14, 2013, her nomination was reported to the full Senate by voice vote of the Senate Judiciary Committee.[24] She was confirmed by the full Senate by voice vote on March 22, 2013. She received her commission on March 26, 2013[15] and was sworn in by Justice Breyer in May 2013.[25]

During her time on the District Court, Jackson wrote multiple decisions adverse to the positions of the Trump administration. In her opinion ordering Trump's former White House counsel Donald McGahn to comply with a legislative subpoena, she wrote "presidents are not kings".[26] Jackson handled a number of challenges to executive agency actions that raised questions of administrative law. She also issued rulings in several cases that gained particular political attention.[27]

Bloomberg Law reported in spring 2021 that conservative activists were pointing to certain decisions by Jackson that had been reversed on appeal as a "potential blemish on her record".[28] In 2019, Jackson ruled that provisions in three Trump executive orders conflicted with federal employee rights to collective bargaining. Her decision was reversed unanimously by the D.C. Circuit. Another 2019 decision, involving a challenge to a Department of Homeland Security decision to expand the agency's definition of which noncitizens could be deported, was also reversed by the D.C. Circuit. Nan Aron, president of the liberal Alliance for Justice, defended Jackson's record, saying Jackson "has written nearly 600 opinions and been reversed [fewer] than twelve times".[28]

Selected rulings

In American Meat Institute v. U.S. Department of Agriculture (2013), Jackson rejected the meat packing industry's request for a preliminary injunction to block a U.S. Department of Agriculture rule requiring them to identify animals' country of origin. Jackson found that the rule likely did not violate the First Amendment.[29][30]

In Depomed v. Department of Health and Human Services (2014), Jackson ruled that the Food and Drug Administration had violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it failed to grant pharmaceutical company Depomed market exclusivity for its orphan drug, Gralise. Jackson concluded that the Orphan Drug Act required to FDA to grant Gralise exclusivity.[31]

In Pierce v. District of Columbia (2015), Jackson ruled that the D.C. Department of Corrections violated the rights of a deaf inmate under the Americans with Disabilities Act because jail officials failed to assess the inmate's need for accommodations when he first arrived at the jail.[32]

In April and June 2018, Jackson presided over two cases challenging the Department of Health and Human Services' decision to terminate grants for teen pregnancy prevention programs two years early.[33] Jackson ruled that the decision to terminate the grants early, without any explanation for doing so, was arbitrary and capricious.[34]

In American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO v. Trump (2018), Jackson invalidated provisions of three executive orders that would have limited the time federal employee labor union officials could spend with union members, the issues that unions could bargain over in negotiations, and the rights of disciplined workers to appeal disciplinary actions. Jackson concluded that the executive orders violated the right of federal employees to collectively bargain, as guaranteed by the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute.[35] The D.C. Circuit vacated this ruling on jurisdictional grounds in 2019.[36]

In 2018, Jackson dismissed that 40 wrongful death and product liability lawsuits stemming from the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which had been combined into a single multidistrict litigation. Jackson held that under the doctrine of forum non conveniens, the suits should be brought in Malaysia, not the United States. The D.C. Circuit affirmed this ruling in 2020.[37][38][39]

In 2019, in Center for Biological Diversity v. McAleenan, Jackson held that Congress had, through the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, stripped federal courts of jurisdiction to hear non-constitutional challenges to the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security's decision to waive certain environmental requirements to facilitate construction of a border wall on the United States and Mexico border.[40]

In 2019, Jackson issued a preliminary injunction in Make The Road New York v. McAleenan, blocking an agency rule that would have expanded "fast-track" deportations without immigration court hearings for undocumented immigrants.[41] Jackson found that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had violated the Administrative Procedure Act because its decision was arbitrary and capricious and the agency did not seek public comment before issuing the rule.[42]

In 2019, Jackson issued a ruling in Committee on the Judiciary of the U.S. House of Representatives v. McGahn in which the House Committee on the Judiciary sued Don McGahn, former White House Counsel for the Trump administration, to compel him to comply with the subpoena to appear at a hearing on its impeachment inquiry on issues of alleged obstruction of justice by the administration. McGahn declined to comply with the subpoena after U.S. President Donald Trump, relying on a legal theory of executive testimonial immunity, ordered McGahn not to testify. In a lengthy opinion, Jackson ruled in favor of the House Committee and held that senior-level presidential aides "who have been subpoenaed for testimony by an authorized committee of Congress must appear for testimony in response to that subpoena" even if the President orders them not to do so.[43] Jackson rejected the administration's assertion of executive testimonial immunity by holding that "with respect to senior-level presidential aides, absolute immunity from compelled congressional process simply does not exist."[44] According to Jackson, that conclusion was "inescapable precisely because compulsory appearance by dint of a subpoena is a legal construct, not a political one, and per the Constitution, no one is above the law."[44][45][46] Jackson's use of the phrase "presidents are not kings" gained popular attention in subsequent media reporting on the ruling.[47][48][49][50] In noting that Jackson took four months to resolve the case, including writing a 120 page opinion, The Washington Post wrote: "That slow pace contributed to helping Mr. Trump run out the clock on the congressional oversight effort before the 2020 election."[8] The ruling was appealed by the U.S. Department of Justice,[51] and the D.C. Circuit affirmed part of Jackson's decision nine months later in August 2020.[52] While the case remained pending, on June 4, 2021, McGahn testified behind closed doors under an agreement reached with the Biden administration.[53]

Court of Appeals

On March 30, 2021, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Jackson to serve as a United States circuit judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.[54] On April 19, 2021, her nomination was sent to the Senate. President Biden nominated Jackson to the seat vacated by Judge Merrick Garland, who stepped down to become attorney general.[55]

On April 28, 2021, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee.[56] During her confirmation hearing, Jackson was questioned about several of her rulings against the Trump administration.[57] On May 20, 2021, Jackson's nomination was reported out of committee by a 13–9 vote.[58] On June 10, 2021, cloture was invoked on her nomination by a vote of 52–46.[59] On June 14, 2021, the United States Senate confirmed Jackson in a 53–44 vote.[60] She received her judicial commission on June 17, 2021.[61]

Jackson's first decision as a court of appeals judge invalidated a 2020 rule by the Federal Labor Relations Authority that had restricted the bargaining power of federal-sector labor unions.[62]

Legal philosophy

In January 2022, The New York Times reported that Jackson had "not yet written a body of appeals court opinions expressing a legal philosophy" because she had joined the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in the summer of 2021. However, The Times said, Jackson's earlier rulings "comported with those of a liberal-leaning judge", including her opinions blocking various Trump administration actions.[8] Additionally, a review of over 500 of her judicial opinions indicates she would likely be as liberal as Justice Stephen Breyer, the justice she is nominated to replace.[63]

According to Sahil Kapur, writing for NBC News, "Jackson fits well with the Democratic Party and the progressive movement's agenda" due to her relative youth, background as a public defender, and history of labor-friendly rulings.[64]

Politico reported that "Jackson is popular with liberal legal activists looking to replace Breyer with a justice willing to engage in ideological combat with the court's conservatives."[65]

Nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States

In early 2016, the Obama administration officials vetted Jackson as a potential nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court to fill the vacancy left by the death of Antonin Scalia.[66][67][68] Jackson was one of five candidates interviewed as a potential nominee for the vacancy.[69]


  1. ↑ Voruganti, Harsh Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson – Nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, (March 30, 2021)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1  Biden's first slate of judicial nominees aims to quickly boost diversity in federal courts, Washington Post  (March 29, 2021)
  3. ↑  (25 February 2022). President Biden Nominates Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to Serve as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (Press release). White House Office.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Marimow, Ann E. Biden's court pick Ketanji Brown Jackson has navigated a path few Black women have, The Washington Post  (April 30, 2021)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Questionnaire for judicial nominees,
  6. ↑ Capitol Hill Hearing - Nominations, (October 7, 2009)
  7. ↑ Berke, Jeremy Influential Supreme Court expert is floating a new candidate to fill Scalia's seat, (February 17, 2016)
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4  For Ketanji Brown Jackson, View of Criminal Justice Was Shaped by Family, The New York Times  (January 30, 2022)
  9. ↑ Leibowitz, Aaron Supreme Court prospect Brown Jackson was 'star in the making' at Miami's Palmetto High, Miami Herald  (January 26, 2022)
  10. ↑ D'Angelo, Bob, and Natalie Dreier (February 25, 2022) "Who is Ketanji Brown Jackson? 5 things to know about Biden’s Supreme Court pick," WFTV 9. Retrieved February 25, 2022.
  11. ↑  Possible Supreme Court nominee, former defender, saw impact of harsh drug sentence firsthand, Washington Post  (January 30, 2022)
  12. ↑  US Supreme Court: The women in the running to replace Stephen Breyer, BBC News  (January 27, 2022)
  13. ↑  Meet Ketanji Brown Jackson, New York Magazine  (February 25, 2022)
  14. ↑ Ketanji Brown Jackson,
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 Jackson, Ketanji Brown,
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1  (July 23, 2009). President Obama Nominates Ketanji Brown Jackson to US Sentencing Commission (Press release). whitehouse.gov
  17. ↑  Supreme Court Path Set for Potential First Black Female Nominee, Bloomberg.com  (March 30, 2021)
  18. ↑ Weiss Cassens, Debra Biden's first judicial picks include DC Circuit nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, said to be SCOTUS contender, ABA Journal  (March 30, 2021)
  19. ↑  Potential pick Ketanji Brown Jackson would make history as first federal public defender on Supreme Court, Washington Post
  20. ↑ Ingram, David Obama Taps Another MoFo Lawyer, (July 24, 2009)
  21. ↑ Former Commissioner Information, (October 28, 2013)
  22. ↑ Schwarzapfel, Beth Federal Prisons Could Release 1,000 Times More Drug Offenders Than Obama Did, (July 23, 2015)
  23. ↑ President Obama Nominates Two to the United States District Courts, (September 20, 2012)
  24. ↑ President Obama Re-nominates Thirty-Three to Federal Judgeships, (January 3, 2013)
  25. ↑ Valencia, Milton J. Who is Ketanji Brown Jackson, Biden's pick for US Supreme Court?, The Boston Globe  (February 25, 2022)
  26. ↑ Marimow, Ann Senate confirms D.C. Circuit nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace Merrick Garland, The Washington Post  (June 14, 2021)
  27. ↑ Savage, Charlie Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is among the leading candidates to succeed Justice Breyer., The New York Times  (January 26, 2022)
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Alder, Madison Circuit Pick Jackson's Reversals a Likely Target for GOP, news.bloomberglaw.com  (April 28, 2021)
  29. ↑ Abbott, Charles New U.S. meat label rule survives challenge by meat packers, Reuters  (September 11, 2013)
  30. ↑ American Meat Institute v. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 968 F.Supp.2d 38 (D.D.C. 2013).
  31. ↑ Kearn, Rebekah Orphan Drugmaker|Wins Exclusivity, (September 12, 2014)
  32. ↑ Zapotosky, Matt Judge rules D.C. Corrections must pay damages in case of deaf inmate, The Washington Post  (September 12, 2015)
  33. ↑ Hansler, Jennifer HHS loses another court battle over teen pregnancy prevention grant funding, (June 4, 2018)
  34. ↑ Barbash, Fred The real reason the Trump administration is constantly losing in court, The Washington Post  (March 19, 2019)
  35. ↑ Vazquez, Maegan Judge strikes down sections of Trump exec orders for federal workers in victory for unions, (August 25, 2018)
  36. ↑ American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO v. Trump, 318 F.Supp.3d 370 (D.D.C. 2018), vacated, 929 F.3d 748 (D.C. Cir. 2019).
  37. ↑ In re Air Crash Over Southern Indian Ocean on March 8, 2014, 352 F.Supp.3d 19 (D.D.C. 2018), aff'd, 946 F.3d 607 (D.C. Cir. 2020).
  38. ↑ Stempel, Jonathan U.S. judge dismisses litigation over missing Malaysia Airlines flight, Reuters  (November 23, 2018)
  39. ↑ Judge Dismisses US Lawsuits Filed Over Malaysia Airlines Disappearance, (December 12, 2018)
  40. ↑ Grzincic, Barbara IN BRIEF: Trump administration can waive enviro laws for border wall - judge, Reuters  (September 6, 2019)
  41. ↑ Hsu, Spencer S. Judge bars Trump fast-track deportation policy, saying threat to legal migrants was not assessed, The Washington Post  (September 28, 2019)
  42. ↑ Gerstein, Josh Judge blocks Trump plan to expand fast-track deportations, Politico  (September 28, 2019)
  43. ↑ Committee on the Judiciary of the U.S. House of Representatives v. McGahn, No. 19-cv-2379 (KBJ), Slip Op. at 116, (November 25, 2019)
  44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 Committee on the Judiciary of the U.S. House of Representatives v. McGahn, No. 19-cv-2379 (KBJ), Slip Op. at 115, (November 25, 2019).
  45. ↑ Thomsen, Jacqueline 'No One Is Above the Law': Judge Says Donald McGahn Must Comply With House Subpoena for His Testimony, Law.com  (November 25, 2019).
  46. ↑ Samuelsohn, Darren Don McGahn must testify about time as White House lawyer, judge rules, (November 25, 2019)
  47. ↑ Durkee, Alison 'Presidents Are Not Kings': Federal Judge Destroys Trump's 'Absolute Immunity' Defense Against Impeachment, (November 25, 2019)
  48. ↑ Yaeger, Lynn The Week in Washington: 'Presidents Are Not Kings!', (December 1, 2019)
  49. ↑ Judge tells Trump he's not a king – the President is not so sure, (November 26, 2019)
  50. ↑ Reilly, Ryan J. 'Presidents Are Not Kings': Judge Orders Trump Lawyer McGahn To Testify Before Congress, (November 25, 2019)
  51. ↑ Hsu, Spencer S. Appeals court stays ruling that former White House counsel Donald McGahn must comply with House subpoena, The Washington Post (November 28, 2019)
  52. ↑  Appeals court rejects key argument against McGahn subpoena, Politico
  53. ↑ Savage, Charlie McGahn testifies about Trump's efforts to obstruct the Russia inquiry, The New York Times  (June 4, 2021)
  54. ↑  (March 30, 2021). President Biden Announces Intent to Nominate 11 Judicial Candidates (Press release).
  55. ↑ Nominations Sent to the Senate, (April 19, 2021)
  56. ↑ Nominations | United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, (April 28, 2021)
  57. ↑ Marimow, Ann Biden judicial pick Ketanji Brown Jackson defends her independence in Senate hearing, Washington Post  (April 28, 2021)
  58. ↑ Results of Executive Business Meeting, (May 20, 2021)
  59. ↑ On the Cloture Motion (Motion to Invoke Cloture: Ketanji Brown Jackson to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit), (June 10, 2021)
  60. ↑ On the Nomination (Confirmation: Ketanji Brown Jackson, of the District of Columbia, to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit), (June 14, 2021)
  61. ↑ U.S. Court of Appeals – D.C. Circuit – Ketanji Brown Jackson,
  62. ↑ Supreme Court Hopeful Tosses Labor Policy in Debut Ruling (3),
  63. ↑ Judge Jackson’s Rulings: Detailed, Methodical and Leaning Left, (25 February 2022)
  64. ↑ Kapur, Sahil Who is Ketanji Brown Jackson? A likely Biden short-lister for Supreme Court, NBC News  (January 26, 2022)
  65. ↑ Gerstein, Josh Ketanji Brown Jackson is the first Black woman selected for the nation's top court, Politico  (February 25, 2022)
  66. ↑ Tillman, Zoe Source: D.C. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson Vetted for Scalia Seat, (February 26, 2016)
  67. ↑  Here are judges the White House is considering for the Supreme Court, The Washington Post  (March 7, 2016)
  68. ↑ Gresko, Jessica Possible Supreme Court pick would make history in many ways, Associated Press  (March 9, 2016)
  69. ↑ Edwards, Julia White House interviewing five potential U.S. Supreme Court nominees: source, Reuters  (March 10, 2016)
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