A public defender has never served on Supreme Court. Jackson would be first.
Ketanji Brown Jackson, a federal appeals court judge in Washington, D.C., made history today by becoming the first Black woman nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court.
If confirmed she would replace Justice Stephen Breyer, whom she clerked for over 20 years ago. Justice Breyer has said he will retire when the court’s current term ends this summer.
Besides expanding the racial and gender diversity of the Supreme Court – she would become the fourth female member of the nine-person court, and its third person of color – she would also bring rare experiential diversity. She would be the first justice ever to have served as a public defender. The last justice with experience representing criminal defendants was Thurgood Marshall, the trailblazing former NAACP lawyer, who retired in 1991. Judge Jackson would also follow in Justice Breyer’s footsteps as a justice who previously served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
“As a professional who has stood in the well of
