Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Florida roots run deep

TAMPA, Fla. - U.S. Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson is making history as the first Black woman to be selected to serve on the highest court in the nation, a poignant moment during Black History Month.

President Biden announced his pick of Brown Jackson to fill Justice Stephen Breyer’s seat, after he announced his retirement. Brown Jackson, 51, was born in Washington, D.C., but grew up in Miami. Those who know her said her professional and academic excellence led up to the historic moment.

"I think it’s going to do a great deal for the court itself. It’s good for her in that this is something that she has aspired to, but I think it’s going to be great for the court," said her mother Ellery Brown, a Miami resident.

Brown Jackson comes from a family of public servants, and her parents are former public school teachers and administrators. She also had relatives who served in law enforcement and the military. She graduated from Harvard Law’s undergraduate and graduate programs, later becoming a federal judge and a public defender. Stetson University College of Law professor Louis Virelli explained why that’s significant.

"Her professional experience as a public defender is really important. Lots of the decisions the justices make involve criminal law, of course, and criminal defendants and sentencing and capital punishment and things that happen at the trial court level. Many of our justices have never been trial court judges, and very many of them have never been on the criminal defense side," said Virelli.

That kind of experience hasn’t been on the Supreme Court since Thurgood Marshall. She would be the current court’s second Black justice along with Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative.

READ History of the Supreme Court: Why do 9 justices serve? What is ‘packing the court’?

"I think it's incredibly important, too, that our institutions, in general, reflect the American public and that we have people in power who look like America," said Virelli.

A federal judge since 2013, her nomination marks an important moment for future lawyers.

"It's just a great role model being set for young Black women who are following in her footsteps and not just Black women, all women," said Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida.

She faces a long Senate confirmation process, where Democrats hold the majority by a 50-50 margin and Vice President Kamala Harris serving as the tie-breaker. MacManus calls her nomination for Breyer’s seat a full circle moment in her career.

"I think also significant she is replacing the Supreme Court justice that she was the clerk to," said MacManus. "Think about that. She is following and her role models footsteps and changing the complexion of the position with a snap of a finger."

Jackson serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a position Biden named her to from her previous role as a federal trial judge.