Ketanji Brown Jackson says Supreme Court service came with one unexpected downside
TheGrio...
During a candid podcast conversation, the two trailblazers discussed security, sisterhood, Harvard and navigating public scrutiny.
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and former First Lady Michelle Obama share many similarities. Both women are Ivy League-educated, having earned Juris Doctorates from Harvard University. They are also the first Black women to serve in their roles. When it came time for the two to chat during a recently released episode of the “IMO” podcast, both understood that even reaching great heights also means a complete lifestyle change.
When asked about what she’s experienced as a Supreme Court justice compared to her time rising in the judicial ranks, Jackson explained that the lows come with the need for additional protection.
“I think the thing that has been most startling, in a way, is the need for security in a way that you didn’t have before that I had never experienced,” she began around the 1-hour mark of their chat. “It has meant really having to adjust my life. I can’t just go out in any meaningful way as I used to. And that can be a downside, just not being able to live a normal life. I know you know what it’s like to feel confined.”
Jackson and Obama shared the fact that they live in unique bubbles, given how their rise through public service has created a different quality of life. Still, Jackson has been vocal about her “privilege” to serve the American people and how the role has “exceeded” her expectations.
Over the course of the hour-long conversation, Jackson opened up about how she met and fell in love with her first boyfriend, her now husband Peter Jackson, her upbringing as the daughter of a father who studied law and revealed how she found sisterhood at Harvard among the “sizeable” community of Black students on campus and how she found her voice.
“I roomed with five other Black women,” she said, noting that she and Obama were contemporaries. “There were six of us on campus, and then we were within this larger community. And it was just amazing. I found my people.”
As a child in Florida, Jackson had developed ambitions of one day landing on the Supreme Court, so much so that in her Harvard application, she explicitly outlined it as one of her two goals.
“When I applied to college,” Jackson began. “I wrote in my essay to Harvard that you really have to accept me because I would like to be the … I think it will help me with my dream of being the first Black female Supreme Court justice to appear on a Broadway stage. That was the line.”
Shortly after she was confirmed to the bench in 2022, she lived out that Broadway dream in 2024, performing in a one-night-only walk-on role for the stage play “& Juliet.”
Capable of multiple talents, Jackson still holds serving on the bench as her highest honor, and Obama left a gem for her to remain “unbiased,” even as the specter of media and ethical conflicts has only grown.
“You never want to come off as not grateful for service,” Obama said. “Especially people like us who were raised to be public servants. You also have to watch your exposure to things so that there isn’t a bias.”
Brown added in regards to her news consumption and staying out of drama, “It’s a whole different world and not everything is reliable. And the hardest part for judges is that we really cannot participate.”
Obama joked, “Probably saving you some brain cells, too. We need you focused on your opinions.”