Despite Republicans’ best attempts to smear Judge Jackson, this week’s hearings showcased Ketanji Brown Jackson’s impeccable qualifications to sit on the Supreme Court. From her background as a public defender to her family’s history of law enforcement work, her broad and deep experience makes her incredibly qualified to sit on the highest court in the land.

Judge Jackson has served as a judge for nearly a decade.

• Judge Jackson sits on the prestigious U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit — considered second only to the Supreme Court in influence.
   
• Judge Jackson served for years as a trial court judge — and if confirmed, she’d be one of only two members of the current court with that critical experience.
   
• Judge Jackson has authored more than 500 opinions in her time on the bench. A conservative former federal appellate judge praised her “careful approach” and “extraordinary judicial understanding.”

Judge Jackson’s background as a former federal public defender sets her apart.

• Judge Jackson is the first Supreme Court nominee with extensive criminal defense experience since Thurgood Marshall in 1967.
   
• If confirmed, she would be the first former federal public defender to serve on the court.

Judge Jackson served as a clerk for Justice Stephen Breyer, whose seat she will fill if confirmed and who she says she’d hope to emulate on the court.

• Judge Jackson served as a law clerk for Stephen Breyer, whom she called a “role model” for consensus building and working with those with different views.
   
• Judge Jackson told senators that she “would hope to carry on [Breyer’s] spirit” if confirmed to the Supreme Court.

Judge Jackson’s broad experience across the legal system is enhanced by her family’s deep history of law enforcement work.

• Judge Jackson’s brother served as a Baltimore police officer before joining the Army and serving two tours of duty in the Middle East.
   
• Two of Judge Jackson’s uncles were career law enforcement officers — one a detective and the other a patrol officer who became Miami’s chief of police.
   
• In her confirmation hearings this week, Judge Jackson described a childhood memory of seeing her uncles arrive for Sunday dinner in their uniforms: “I remember feeling very proud of them and the service that they provided.”

###