With President Donald J. Trump once again in the White House, the U.S. Supreme Court finds itself at the center of an escalating legal storm—and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is emerging as one of its most vocal critics.
Jackson, appointed in 2022 by then-President Joe Biden, is swiftly establishing herself as the Court’s fiercest liberal dissenter, repeatedly challenging not only Trump’s controversial policies but also the conservative majority that often supports them.
This week, she condemned the administration’s use of an obscure 18th-century wartime law to deport Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador, writing in a scathing solo dissent:
“For lovers of liberty, this should be quite concerning.”
She added a chilling historical reference, invoking the infamous 1944 decision Korematsu v. United States, in which the Court upheld the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II:
“At least when the Court went off base in the past, it left a record so posterity could see how it went wrong… We are just as wrong now as we have been in the past, with similarly devastating consequences. It just seems we are now less willing to face it.”
Taking a Stand—Even Alone
Jackson’s dissent went even further than the one authored by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, which she also signed. But in a striking move, neither Sotomayor nor Justices Elena Kagan or Amy Coney Barrett joined Jackson’s solo opinion, underlining her willingness to stand alone when necessary.
Her criticism wasn’t limited to the deportation policy.
In a recent dispute involving the Trump administration’s abrupt cancellation of teacher training grants—including those focused on diversity—Jackson slammed the Department of Education’s “robotic rollout” and its “highly questionable behavior.”
She further blasted the Court’s conservative wing for what she described as a reckless and opaque handling of emergency cases, warning:
“I worry that permitting the emergency docket to be hijacked in this way … damages our institutional credibility.”
A Stark Contrast With Her Liberal Peers
While the Court’s liberal wing typically votes in unison, their methods increasingly diverge. Jackson is frequently the most outspoken and expansive, writing solo dissents even when she signs onto those by Sotomayor or Kagan.
That was evident when the conservative majority granted President Trump substantial immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts. While Sotomayor authored a fiery 30-page dissent—which Jackson and Kagan both joined—Jackson also issued her own 22-page breakdown of what she saw as a fundamental distortion of presidential accountability:
“I write separately to explain… the paradigm shift [this ruling] means for our Nation moving forward.”
Not Just Dissent—But Definition
Jackson’s independent streak reflects a deliberate strategy. While other justices prefer to work behind closed doors or present united liberal opinions, Jackson is defining herself for the public—and for posterity.
She frequently uses sharp, direct language, in contrast with Justice Kagan’s more restrained tone. In the teacher grant case, for example, Kagan described the majority’s logic as “very possibly wrong,” while Jackson simply called the Court’s ruling “truly bizarre.”
Justice Sotomayor signed Jackson’s dissent in that case, but Kagan did not. Chief Justice John Roberts offered just one sentence of disagreement, without aligning with any of the liberal justices.
A Voice for Accountability in a Tense Era
With President Trump back in office and key decisions accelerating through the Court’s emergency docket, Jackson is emerging as a critical voice for transparency, constitutional limits, and civil liberties.
Her solo opinions may not alter the Court’s outcomes, but they’re capturing national attention—and preserving a detailed record of dissent in this fraught political moment.
Whether writing alongside her colleagues or striking out alone, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has made one thing clear: she is not here to be silent.
