Ketanji Brown Jackson

Born:September 14, 1970 (age 53)
Career:U.S. Supreme Court, 2022-present
Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 2021-2022
Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 2013-2021
Vice chair/commissioner, U.S. Sentencing Commission, 2010-2014
Private practice lawyer, 2007-2010, 2000-2003 and 1998-1999
Assistant federal public defender, Office of the Federal Public Defender, 2005-2007
Assistant special counsel, U.S. Sentencing Commission, 2003-2005
Law clerk, U.S. Supreme Court, 1999-2000
Law clerk, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, 1997-1998
Law clerk, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, 1996-1997
Education:A.B, Harvard University
J.D., Harvard Law School

Ketanji Brown Jackson is an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving since June 30, 2022. She is the first female African American justice and the first former federal public defender to serve on the Supreme Court, and is the sixth female justice.

Jackson was born on Sept. 14, 1970, in Washington, DC, and grew up in the Miami, Florida area. She graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor's degree in government, magna cum laude, in 1992 and a Juris Doctor, cum laude, in 1996. She served as the supervising editor of the Harvard Law Review from 1995-1996.

Prior to her confirmation to the Supreme Court, Jackson was a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (2021-2022) and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (2013-2021). Other previous legal experience includes serving as assistant special counsel, vice chair and commissioner on the U.S. Sentencing Commission; as a federal public defender; as a private practice lawyer; and as a law clerk at all three levels of the federal judiciary, including for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.


Ballotpedia (n.d.). Ketanji Brown Jackson. Retrieved on June 30, 2022, from https://ballotpedia.org/Ketanji_Brown_Jackson.

Supreme Court of the United States (n.d.). Current Members. Retrieved on June 30, 2022, from https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/biographies.aspx.

The White House (n.d.) The Senate Confirms Ketanji Brown Jackson to Serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Retrieved on June 30, 2022, from https://www.whitehouse.gov/kbj.

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