Lovely One

Ketanji Brown Jackson is an American Supreme Court justice. She was born in 1970 to parents Johnny and Ellery Brown, who named her Ketanji Onyika, meaning “lovely one.” Jackson was educated at Miami Palmetto Senior High School and attended Harvard University, graduating magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in government in 1992. While completing her bachelor’s degree, she met fellow student Patrick Jackson, whom she would later marry. She returned to Harvard to attend law school, graduating cum laude with her Juris Doctor degree in 1996.

After graduating, Jackson clerked for Judge Patti Saris and Judge Bruce Selya. She then seized the opportunity to clerk for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer from 1999-2000. After years of working in private practice and then for the federal government’s Sentencing Commission, Jackson was confirmed as a judge for the District of Columbia in 2013. President Biden nominated her to the US Court of Appeals in 2021, and a year later, he nominated her to the Supreme Court. In June 2022, Jackson was sworn in as the country’s newest Supreme Court justice, making history as the first Black woman to serve on the court.