After Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett announced from the court’s mahogany bench last month that lower court judges had gone too far in pausing President Donald Trump’s changes to birthright citizenship, the court’s liberals got their turn.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the most senior of the three justices appointed by Democratic presidents, read parts of the trio’s joint dissent for about twice as long as Barrett had described the conservative majority’s opinion.
In a case about air pollution rules, Jackson said the case “gives fodder to the unfortunate perception that moneyed interests enjoy an easier road to relief in this Court than ordinary citizens.”
When her conservative colleagues gave Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency complete access to the data of millions of Americans kept by the U.S. Social Security Administration, Jackson said the court was sending a “troubling message” that it’s departing from basic legal standards for the Trump administration.
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Supreme Court Associate Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson wears a collar and matching earrings made from cowrie shells during the inauguration ceremonies in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2025 in Washington, D.C.
Speaking at a judge’s conference in May, Jackson condemned the attacks Trump and his allies were making on judges who ruled against his policies. Her warning that the “threats and harassment” could undermine the Constitution and the rule of law was stronger than concerns expressed by Sotomayor and by Chief Justice John Roberts.
A clock, a mural, a petition: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s chambers tell her story
Jackson spoke up early and often
Nominated by President Joe Biden in 2022 to succeed Justice Stephen Breyer, Jackson wasted no time being heard.
During her first two weeks on the court, she spoke more than twice as many words as any of her colleagues.
When asked about her volubility, Jackson has said she became used to operating solo on the bench during her eight years as a federal trial court judge.
She hasn’t shown many signs of adjusting. Since October, Jackson spoke 50% more words on the bench than Sotomayor who was the next talkative, according to statistics compiled by Adam Feldman and Jake S. Truscott for the Empirical SCOTUS blog.
“She’s the only one that has ever done what she’s doing in terms of total volume of speech in her first few terms,” said Feldman, a lawyer and political scientist.
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson poses in her chambers in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 20, 2024.
`She wanted me to … use my voice.’
Jackson has been working on her communications skills since elementary school when her mother enrolled her in a public speaking program.
“She wanted me to get out there and use my voice,” Jackson said during an appearance at the Kennedy Center last year to talk about her memoir.