U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has embarked on her nationwide tour to promote her memoir, “Lovely One” and one of her stops was her hometown — Miami.
The memoir details Jackson’s journey to becoming the first Black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, which began at the kitchen table of her parents’ married student housing apartment, right here at the University of Miami.
Her memoir is a tribute to those who have supported and inspired her. Its title is a direct translation of her name, Ketanji Onyika, meaning “Lovely One” in an African dialect, which was given to her by her aunt.
Her first memories as a child were sitting with her father, Johnny Brown, drawing in her coloring books while he studied and discussed the law as a University of Miami School of Law student in the early 1970s.
“I didn’t think that there was really anything else a person was supposed to do except go to law school,” Jackson recollected. “From that early age, I thought about being a lawyer and wanting to pursue that path because I wanted to be like my dad.”
On Saturday, Sept. 7, the University of Miami School of Law and the Adrienne Arsht Center hosted chats with Jackson, welcoming her back to the city where she laid the foundation for her distinguished legal career.
Her combined audience of 3,200 people came together to not only collectively celebrate her new book, “Lovely One,” but to acknowledge the “inspiring journey” of UM’s “hometown pride,” Miami Law Interim Dean Particia Sanchez Abril said.
“Miami was such a great place to grow up, for me at least in the time that we came along,” Jackson stated. “It was a time of hope and opportunity. Miami was a very multicultural environment that was at the time very interested, I think, in providing opportunities for communities that had previously been excluded.”
During her speeches, moderated by her longtime friend and appellate specialist, Stephen Rosenthal, and U.S. district judge for the Southern District of Florida, Darrin Gayles, Jackson recalled her experiences in the practice of law. From her involvement in Dade County Youth Fair competitions as a child, to becoming a member of the highest court in the country, while balancing professional and life goals, Jackson had a very personal story to share with her audience.
“It was great hearing Justice Jackson on a personal level,” said Sebastian Gonzalez, a sophomore majoring in Public Relations and Political Science student from New Jersey. “[It] brought humanity to her, as this event removed her from the institution and saw her as an individual.”
Jackson received her undergraduate and legal education at Harvard University, and went on to serve as a federal judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where she was noted for her expertise in complex legal issues. Prior to her appellate court position, she had a distinguished career as a public defender and private attorney, and held roles on various legal and judicial committees, including serving as a vice chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
“I decided that when I became a trial judge, that I was going to prioritize communication,” Jackson told The Hurricane, in a comment about her passion for criminal law and aspirations of providing a fair trial for all.
Shortly after her position on the U.S. District Court of Appeals, Ketanji Brown Jackson made history by being nominated to the Supreme Court by President Biden in February 2022. She was sworn in on June 30, 2022 as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
However, Jackson remains humble throughout her success, stating that “no one reaches the highest of heights on their own.”
She also expressed her admiration for Constance Baker Motley, a civil rights attorney and the first African American woman appointed to the federal judiciary, as they share the same birthday of Sept. 14.
“I remember thinking early in my career, ‘Well, you can’t always necessarily be the smartest person in any room, but what you can do is commit to being the hardest worker,’” Jackson stated.
“I had a favorite poem that I learned about in high school that I put up in every single law firm or office that I ever went to, because it was motivational in this way. It was a stanza from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The Ladder of St. Augustine. He says, ‘The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night.’ That was the person that I thought I was, professionally.”
She gave the law students and lawyers in the room a look into the reality of being part of the highest court in the land, considering the unexpected formalities and traditions of the justices.
“Collective decision-making is actually hard. It’s much harder than doing and saying whatever you want to do,” Jackson said. “Now I am on the Supreme Court and it’s even that much harder because there are nine of us. And everybody knows who we are.”
Jackson explained that becoming a Supreme Court Justice made her an instant celebrity, transforming her life.
“Personally, I can’t go out anymore, and I have security all the time, which is important and you need it… On the other hand, I get fabulous students and people who come to court, and get to talk to them and try to encourage them. One of the things that I’ve enjoyed the most about being a Supreme Court Justice is the student groups who come; I’ve had elementary on up,” she said.
Judge Darrin Gayles described her career as “particularly a Miami success story,” highlighting how her background and experiences in life formed her perspective to approach the law.
Just as many other Supreme Court Justices have spoken at events at the University of Miami School of Law, Ketanji Brown Jackson’s speech has become a source of inspiration to aspiring lawyers and judges at UM.
Jackson recalled that her elementary yearbook dream to “go into law and eventually have a judicial appointment” has indeed come true, and encouraged each student to find their own passion in life.
In closing her inspiring message, Ketanji Brown Jackson posed a transformative question to her listeners.
“What are you willing to work for?” Jackson said. “If you believe in yourself and work for it, it will happen.”