Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson vividly remembers the moment before she made history as the first Black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
“My heart was hammering so loudly that I wondered if the two black-robed men standing on either side of me, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and retiring Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer, could hear it too,” Jackson said Thursday, reading from the preface of her new memoir, Lovely One, during an event at the University of Virginia School of Law.
In a conversation with Professor Kimberly Jenkins Robinson—her former Harvard Law School roommate—Jackson reflected on her journey, her upbringing, and the values that guided her career. Robinson, who leads UVA’s Education Rights Institute, hosted the discussion as part of the institute’s second anniversary celebration.
Jackson credited her parents, both public school teachers in Washington, D.C., with shaping her belief in education and public service. “They were very focused on giving me the opportunities they had been denied,” she said. Her father’s pursuit of a law degree became an early inspiration: “My dad had his law books, and I had my coloring books. We were working together.”
Another major influence was Judge Constance Baker Motley, the first Black woman to argue before the Supreme Court. “She was a North Star for me,” Jackson said.
After graduating from Harvard and clerking for Justice Breyer, Jackson built a varied legal career — from public defender to vice chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission — before President Joe Biden nominated her to the high court in 2022.
Reflecting on her confirmation, Jackson said she stayed calm by remembering that some senators were “talking to their constituents.”
Now two years into her tenure, Jackson said her biggest challenge has been navigating “collective decision-making” among nine justices, but her greatest reward is using her platform to inspire others.
“I try to encourage people to invest in our government and in our country,” she said. “That’s the best part of the job.”
