Ketanji Brown Jackson

Despite the sad and--quite frankly incredulous--fact that recent Jeopardy contestants could not recall her name, Jackson's glorious ascent to the nation's highest court on June 30, 2022 cannot be denied. On that day, Ketanji Brown Jackson became the first Black woman and first former public defender to serve on the Supreme Court. Nominated by President Joe Biden, Jackson took over the seat vacated by Stephen Breyer after he announced his retirement. Jackson is an alumna of both Harvard University and Harvard Law School, where she graduated magna cum laude and Juris Doctor cum laude, respectively. Even with her years of experience in and dedication to the law and public service, it wouldn’t be until the Obama administration took over that Jackson would be nominated and confirmed to serve on the federal district court of Washington, D.C. That role, in turn, led to her emergence, in 2016, as one of five frontrunners to potentially serve on the Supreme Court after the death of Justice Scalia. Though that seat eventually went to someone else, Jackson reached the highest court of the land just six years later, earning both bipartisan support and the admiration of people across the nation.