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Community Voices

 BU Celebrates Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Rise to US Supreme Court

Students, faculty, staff react to confirmation of the first Black woman to the nation’s highest court

The operative word about Ketanji Brown Jackson is “first.” Once she is sworn in to the US Supreme Court, after being confirmed by the Senate Thursday 53-47 (three Republicans joined Democrats in supporting her), she will be the first Black woman on the high court in its 233 years. And she will be the first former public defender to join the court. Brown Jackson—the daughter of a lawyer and a school principal and currently a federal appellate judge in Washington, D.C.—won Senate confirmation after a bruising hearing last week where Republican senators tried to label her as an extreme liberal judge who has been soft on crime in certain rulings. For many, the elevation of Brown Jackson, who will replace Stephen Breyer (Hon.’95), the justice she once clerked for, is more than historic—it is long overdue, finally giving a voice to Black women everywhere on the highest court in the land.

BU Today collected a roundup of reactions from across the campus community. 

A collective statement from the leaders of OutLaw, a group of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and allied students focused on creating an informed and active LGBTQIA and ally community within the BU School of Law

This historic confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court is a celebrated and necessary moment when the rights of LGBTQ people around the country are under attack. Brown Jackson’s extensive experience as a judge and public defender demonstrates her commitment to issues important to our community, including fair sentencing practices, immigrants’ rights, and reproductive freedom. Throughout the confirmation hearing, we saw senators’ racist and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric targeting trans youth and the landmark 2015 Obergefell marriage equality ruling. Brown Jackson’s judicial expertise and personal perseverance foretell a new, important voice on the country’s most powerful court.

Lara Werneck (CAS’23)

This country has been created on a foundation of systemic racism and legal, social, and economic inequality. The government’s attempt to silence the voices of the Black community continues to fail through the actions of people like Ketanji Brown Jackson who do not tolerate such degradation, and remain resilient. As a Black, Brazilian woman I also come across barriers on a day-to-day basis because of my skin color and my Latina roots; however, like Kentanji, I will never let that stop me. Instead, I use it as fuel and motivation to keep me fighting not only for the rights that I deserve, but for the rights of my Brazilian community. The microaggressions, racist encounters, and backlash that Kentanji is facing in some ways mirror the experience of Black women across the nation. There are thousands of women who have also dealt with such scrutiny when trying to do things they have a right to do, like buying a home or getting a job. Kentanji Brown Jackson being appointed to the Supreme Court can represent hope, success, and a “keep fighting” [encouragement] to all those women across the nation. Her appointment will provide me with the motivation to keep fighting through the barriers systematically placed to stop people like us from making effective change. Most important, her appointment will be a message of “you are worthy and capable” to me, along with all other Black women in the United States.

Allie Barwind (CAS’24), vice president, Boston University College Republicans (BUCR)

This does not represent the views of BUCR and all of our members, but only my personal views. It is astonishing that we have taken so long to appoint our first Black woman as a Supreme Court justice. Judge Brown Jackson has many admirable qualities, including how she handled questioning from Congress. She has every reason to be appointed as a justice. I find her rulings to be fair and with clear logic. Many appreciate how she brings more diversity to the bench with her background and brilliant mind. I anxiously await what she will do during her time on the Supreme Court.

Saida Grundy, College of Arts & Sciences assistant professor of sociology and of African American studies, and Center for Antiracist Research assistant director of narrative 

Part of what I teach my students in my classes on sociology of race is that, historically speaking, representation (in terms of advancing racial equity by having underrepresented people in positions of visibility or power) is a mixed bag. I never want to oversell the idea that 400-year-old systems change because one or two people in them have changed.

When it comes to the Supreme Court, however, this branch does have historical precedence for being shaped and sometimes drastically changed by key justices. Often these decisions came at the detriment of Black progress, as in the case of Chief Justice [Roger] Taney on the Dred Scott decision. But with Chief Justice [Earl] Warren and Justice Thurgood Marshall, we see a new juridical interpretation of the court as one that makes laws that better serve social, political, and demographic changes instead of strictly interpreting the intentions of founders who only saw white property-owning men as citizens.

So with that context, I don’t want to oversell Hon. Judge Brown’s appointment, but history tells us it could be far from insignificant should she walk in the shoes of Marshall, [Ruth Bader] Ginsburg, Warren, et al. These were justices who—when history called for our laws to evolve—saw the law as an instrument for making fairness possible where others saw the law as a tool of maintaining the unfairness of the country’s founding.

Charlotte Beatty (CAS’22) and Molly Baker (CAS’22), copresidents of BU Students for Reproductive Freedom

A Black woman on the Supreme Court means more intersectional perspectives can be offered in court hearings. In terms of legislation, we hope it means more attention to Black maternal mortality, safe, accessible housing, and criminal justice reform, all of which are essential to the reproductive justice movement. But beyond legislation, having a Black woman on the Supreme Court means increased visibility, representation, and inspiration for women everywhere, but especially marginalized women of color. 

Carrie Preston, Arvind and Chandan Nandlal Kilachand Professor, CAS professor of English and of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, and director, Kilachand Honors College

This is a “Hooray” and “Hallelujah” moment for me. It’s not just about having a Black woman on the Supreme Court, though, it’s about having Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Black woman who served as a federal public defender making sure that poor people have legal representation; a Black woman who served as a judge for the United States District Court for Washington, D.C., where she wrote decisions trying to mitigate the Trump administration’s damage to the United States; a Black mother, whose daughters sat proudly through hearings that turned brutally dismissive and racist. So, this is also a painful moment for me, one that indicates just how much work we need to do. 

Malika Jeffries-EL, CAS professor of chemistry and associate dean, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences

I am overwhelmed with joy and pride about the historic nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to become the first Black woman to sit on the highest court in America—the Supreme Court. There are very few Black women federal judges, and to now have Judge Jackson confirmed is a joyful moment for our country. Not only is she more than qualified, but she has extensive experience, from clerking at every level of the federal courts, serving as a public defender, working as a corporate lawyer, leading on the Sentencing Commission, and being a trial and appeals court judge. I am happy that she will bring her unique experiences and knowledge to help inform the process as the Supreme Court makes important decisions. Thus, she may be able to share information and other points of view that are not being considered because other Justices have not had that experience. 

As a Black woman who has served as “a first” or been the only person of color in the room, I have brought my experiences and knowledge that have helped others and institutions avoid making decisions that are biased. This is a reminder that we all belong in the room, whether in academia, corporate, or government. Black women should not have to continuously work twice as hard to succeed or constantly have their abilities questioned. I am hopeful that America will continue to move in the right direction to have Black women in leadership positions. 

Deborah Douglas, coeditor of The Emancipator and BU Center for Antiracist Research staff member

Growing up in what I like to call “the remnant aura” of the mid-century Civil Rights Movement, what a mind trick it has been living in this let-the-hate-fly-free version of America. My working assumption has always been to build on the progress of gains in voting, housing, jobs, and beyond clinched during that period of Black resistance. Children, workaday folks, and larger-than-life leaders who put their lives on the line risked too much to squander the opportunities we’ve been given, even if we have to pry them loose by force of laws, policies, protest, and quiet everyday persistence. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, my generational peer, is a part of that march toward progress and one of the best examples of all the ways Black people are encouraged to do, be, and know better at every measure. Despite the indicators that we don’t always succeed in this quest due largely to systemic barriers, it is not for the lack of trying. 

It stings when white US senators commit the crime of “depresencing” Jackson, my way of explaining how Black women are rendered nonexistent in narratives and in physical spaces by white patriarchy. We are all too familiar with the ways and means of rejecting our heat, our love, our effort, our humanity in a country that promises the full expression thereof—on paper for the time being. 

This historic event of a Black woman’s ascendance to the nation’s highest court calls forth Maya Angelou’s words on confirmation: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” Certain Republican senators may be blind to the truth of US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s gifts, but we are not. She has shown herself to be our ancestors’ wildest dream. For that, I am grateful.

Andrea Taylor (COM’68), BU senior diversity officer

The confirmation process endured by Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is a reminder of a double standard that often diminishes the skill, talent, and potential contribution of Black women in public service. Despite the vitriolic, abusive attacks against this highly qualified US Supreme Court nominee, her selection removed another barrier to equitable representation on the highest court in the land. As one of the youngest judges, she could potentially be a contender for the role of chief justice during a long, distinguished tenure.

Rev. Robert Allan Hill, Dean of Marsh Chapel

I am thrilled to celebrate and honor the appointment of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the United States Supreme Court. Her mind, heart, experience, education, preparation, eloquence, and excellence have compelled and impelled her appointment. As the first Black woman to receive this honor, she will by virtue of her character and voice bring a further dimension of grace and compassion to the work before her, and, indeed, before us all. There are a lot of things wrong and going wrong in our time, near and far. But there are also a lot of things right and going right in our time, near and far. Judge Jackson’s appointment is one of these things going right. Toward the end of my undergraduate studies at Ohio Wesleyan, the school invited a former attorney general to speak in Gray Chapel (the equivalent there of Marsh Chapel here).  He spoke without a note for more than an hour, in a powerful, even spellbinding way. His theme: “Ours is a country of laws and not of men.” (Of course, today we would say ‘of laws and not of people.’) Who we are as a country relies on and depends on those who can rightly translate our inherited legal traditions into current insights for effective living. Thank goodness for people such as Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. 

Grace Adebogun (CAS’24)

As the intelligent, driven, successful, and beautiful Black woman that she is, Ketanji Brown Jackson had nothing to prove to anyone, but she did anyway. That’s what having a Black woman on the Supreme Court means for me: that a Black woman can succeed as the first in her position and that it not be reduced to just any moment in history or be celebrated just because she has met some sort of expectation set by any particular group. Rather, let it be a celebration of her and her life. A celebration of her actions, convictions, and abilities as someone who set out for a goal and met it. As Black people continue to break through barriers as “firsts,” I see a future where our presence is the expectation and the norm, not the surprise and the anomaly. I want us all to begin to see that as a manifestation of Black success and for resources and capital to be invested towards that goal accordingly. Ketanji Brown Jackson being the first Black woman SCOTUS justice isn’t just a historical checkpoint passed. She’s the first of many to come—the start of a norm long overdue. To Ms. Jackson: thank you for bearing the weight that comes with being the first. May you one day also bear the glory and joy in seeing the next and the many thereafter. Congratulations!

Nicole Huberfeld, School of Public Health Edward R. Utley Professor of Health Law, Ethics and Human Rights and School of Law professor of law 

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination and confirmation to the US Supreme Court is a critical milestone. Many think the Court’s proceedings do not affect their lives, but nothing could be farther from the truth. The Court hears the nation’s toughest cases, deciding issues such as the fate of civil rights, access to healthcare, elections, scope of governmental power, and more. Judge Jackson’s appointment is momentous not only because she will become the first Black woman to serve as a Supreme Court justice, but also because she has both depth and range of experience. She has served at every level of the federal courts, and she has performed many different kinds of lawyering, including as a federal public defender. This too will be a “first” for a Supreme Court justice and restores the crucial perspective of a civil rights lawyer to the Court, a perspective that was lost when Justice Ginsburg passed away. Judge Jackson’s confirmation indicates that the Court is on a journey toward more proportional representation of the nation it serves.

Monica Wang, Center for Antiracist Research associate director of narrative and School of Public Health associate professor of community health sciences

Having Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson confirmed means that my voice and perspective as a working mother and a woman of color can be represented in decisions that have lasting effects for generations, that my two multiracial daughters are able to see from an early age that women of color are acknowledged and celebrated in holding positions of power, and that the Supreme Court begins to look more like the people it serves. I also hope that this is one of many opportunities for us as a country to move beyond historic firsts so that representation across gender, race, ethnicity, and many other forms of identities become the standard, not an outlier.

Jonathan Allen (LAW’19), Innovate@BU inaugural innovator in residence

True justice requires representation. For far too long, perspectives from the communities most negatively impacted by the legal system have not been responsible for interpreting and enforcing the law of the land. This particular SCOTUS confirmation means that the rule of law stands to be interpreted and informed for the first time through the lens of a Black woman—one of the most marginalized but yet essential voices in our society. Having Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on the bench will give greater voice to those, as Dr. Howard Thurman [Hon.’67] would say, “with their backs against the wall.” 

I’m so inspired that my little sisters get to grow up knowing that they can undoubtedly be a US Supreme Court justice. Young people near and far will continue to follow Judge Brown Jackson’s example and know that because she did, they can. Also, as a proud cofounder of Leadership Brainery, I’m thrilled that Judge Brown Jackson embodies our theory of change—that when people of color (and other marginalized groups) have access to advanced education and inclusive networks, they can leverage higher wage and impact careers to create financial stability for their families, reinvest in their communities, and influence systemic change.