Ketanji Brown Jackson

“People ask me what was the one thing, if you could pick one thing, that most set you on your course. It would probably be my high school debate team, because it was just the opportunity to grow into my own voice and myself and to have someone outside my family put so much effort into nurturing me.”

“I think there are legal issues that arise out of the political process, and so the Supreme Court has to be prepared to respond if that should be necessary.”

“My parents taught me that, unlike the many barriers that they had had to face growing up, my path was clearer, so that if I worked hard and I believed in myself, in America, I could do anything or be anything I wanted to be.”

“I love the idea that in order to be successful, it takes hard work.”

“I know my judicial role is further constrained by careful adherence to precedent.”

“My attempts to communicate directly with defendants is about public safety, because most of the people who are incarcerated via the federal system... will come out, will be a part of our communities again.”

“It's important that people understand that judges aren't making things up just from their own personal views of how the world should work.”

“It is extremely humbling to be considered for Justice Breyer's seat.”

“Both my parents were determined that I not discount my own abilities, and they absolutely would not abide me throwing up my hands as if I were helpless.”

“Roe and Casey are the settled law of the Supreme Court concerning the right to terminate a woman's pregnancy. They have established a framework that the court has reaffirmed.”

“My clerkship with Justice Breyer, in particular, was an extraordinary gift and one for which I've only become more grateful with each passing year.”

“I was the student body president three years in a row.”

“I was the person who was going to toil upward in the night, always.”

“Lots of justices use terms and phrases that they want to use in order to make a significant point.”

“Even after municipal recreation centers were fully desegregated in the 1960s, rather than welcome Black swimmers to those facilities, officials in many cities opted to drain the pools and fill them with concrete.”

“I'm not going to comment on other justices' interpretations of the rules or what they're doing.”

“Having lawyers who can set aside their own personal beliefs about their client's alleged behavior or their client's propensity to commit crimes benefits all persons in the United States because it incentivizes the government to investigate accusations thoroughly and to protect the rights of the accused during the criminal justice process.”

“As someone who has had family members on patrol and in the line of fire, I care deeply about public safety.”

“My parents were in public service my brother was a police officer and in the military and being in the public defenders office felt very much like the opportunity to help with my skills and talents.”

“My husband has always seen this as a partnership. He is so self-sacrificing in parenting, caring for our household and my career. Early on, when we were first married, before we had kids, we would take turns. He took some time off in the residency to do research in D.C. so that I could work at the law firm I wanted.”