Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson revealed the reality of being appointed to the nation’s highest court of law, telling Michelle Obama that the experience has “surpassed any expectation” she had.
But the job comes with a “startling” reality, too, she said, in a candid conversation on the podcast the former first lady co-hosts with her brother, Craig Robinson.
Obama, 62, and Jackson, 55, are the first Black women to hold their respective positions. They touched on their shared experiences: from being raised to serve the public in a meaningful way to attending Harvard Law School to parenting while holding roles of power to having to adjust to high-level security around them.
The former first lady asked Jackson about her path to the Supreme Court, saying, “How has life changed? We talked a little bit about our shared bubble experiences. Do you feel comfortable talking about how being a life-appointed Supreme Court justice affects your day-to-day life? What are the limits? How are your kids managing? What are the highs, and what are some of the lows?”
Jackson responded, “Well, it is a big, big change. It’s a big commitment.”
She continued to explain: “I think the thing that has been most startling, in a way, is the need for security in a way that I had never experienced before.”
“I was on the lower courts, but they don’t have the same level of security, or the same security needs, as the justices do,” said Jackson. “So it has meant really having to adjust my life. I can’t just go out in any meaningful way as I used to.”
“And that can be a downside—just not being able to live a normal life,” she said, adding to Obama, “I know you know what it’s like to feel confined.”
The liberal justice caveated that it is a “privilege” to be able to do her work.
“I know how you feel,” Obama responded. “You never want to come off as not being grateful for the opportunity to serve, especially people like us who were raised to be public servants.”
The security judges are provided has been under heightened scrutiny after judges have revealed an uptick in threats in an increasingly polarized political climate.
Fellow Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative, has been vocal about the intimidation she and her family have received. Coney Barrett said that she and many SCOTUS judges have been given threats and received home deliveries “designed to intimidate and harass us.”
Jackson was appointed to the Supreme Court by former President Joe Biden in 2022.
She has been fiercely outspoken about her fellow justices bending the knee to President Donald Trump. She has lambasted the Trump administration’s “relentless attacks” on federal judges, receiving a standing ovation at a conference of judges in Puerto Rico whilst doing so.
While she didn’t mention the president directly in her conversation with Obama, Jackson spoke to the importance of judges to both democracy and liberty. She called the job “crucial.”
“It’s just extraordinary,” Jackson said of her time as a judge. “I’m so privileged to do this work to serve the American people in this way.”
