'She always talked about the way that Justice Breyer would try to go and talk to other justices, to get their thoughts and work through issues. 'Being on the court is a long-term proposition,' said Doug Jones, the former Alabama senator and Democrat who helped guide Jackson through her confirmation. Sentencing Commission will likely give Jackson an especially strong insight into federal criminal cases, experts said. Her years as a former federal public defender and as a member of the U.S. District judge, making her one of two justices with experience presiding over a trial court. Before that she served for eight years as a U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Jackson, 52, spent a year on the powerful U.S. 'There’s no question she will be educating her colleagues in many ways,' Nelson said.

'Any justice brings their own background and perspective to the court in a way that can change the chemistry – not radically, necessarily, not in a way that will change the outcome in terms of votes, but it may change some of the quality and reasoning of the decision,' said Janai Nelson, president and director-counsel of the Legal Defense Fund.Īs a Black woman, Nelson said, Jackson brings a set of experiences that will be unique to the court and historic. Her arrival marks the first time four women have served together as justices and the first time women and people of color outnumber white men. In the politically charged cases, it's a good bet Jackson will be in dissent just like the justice she replaced, Stephen Breyer.īut that doesn't mean she won't have an impact. The focus on Jackson, the first African American woman to ascend to the nation's highest court, has come with a good deal of theorizing about how she might influence an institution where conservatives are firmly in control. WASHINGTON – Now it's Ketanji Brown Jackson's turn to ask the questions.Īfter enduring an at-times bitter Senate confirmation this year, the newest associate justice of the Supreme Court took her seat behind the court's mahogany bench Friday at a formal investiture ceremony that was full of symbolism and history.Īnd on Monday, Jackson will take part in her first oral argument – delving into an environmental case that has vexed the court for years. Before that, she took part in a ceremony at the court that dates backs 50 years.Jackson will take part in her first Supreme Court arguments on Monday.

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