Why the president’s Supreme Court nomination matters
A senior opinion writer explains why Ketanji Brown Jackson brings a perspective to the court that makes the institution more representative of the American public.
U.S. Supreme Court building
A Black woman has never been appointed to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. That could be set to change, as the Biden Administration is nominating Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace outgoing associate justice Stephen Breyer — who has served on the nation’s top court since 1994.
“I think that’s the importance of diversity — not just in terms of race and geography — but diversity in terms of background on this court. You have a lot of former federal judges [on the court], it’s really homogenous in that sense.” — Kimberly Atkins Stohr, senior opinion writer at The Boston Globe
Listen: How Ketanji Brown Jackson would change the nature of the Supreme Court.
Guest
Kimberly Atkins Stohr is a senior opinion writer at The Boston Globe, a former trial and appellate litigation attorney, and co-host of the Sisters in Law podcast. Stohr says Ketanji Brown Jackson’s background as a public defender gives her a very different experience than any other sitting members of the Supreme Court.
“I think that’s the importance of diversity,” says Stohr, “not just in terms of race and geography, but diversity in terms of background on this court. You have a lot of former federal judges, it’s really homogenous in that sense.”
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