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When Ketanji Brown Jack\u00adson was apply\u00ading to college, her high school guid\u00adance coun\u00adselor told her not to set her sights too high. Now an exper\u00adi\u00adenced judge, with stints as a public defender, a U.S. Senten\u00adcing Commis\u00adsioner, and a lawyer in private prac\u00adtice, Jack\u00adson is poised to make history as the first Black woman to ever serve on the Supreme Court, as well as the first former public defender.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jack\u00adson\u2019s nomin\u00ada\u00adtion is a mile\u00adstone for bring\u00ading greater diversity of life exper\u00adi\u00adence to the bench. Chief Justice John Roberts famously described the role of a judge as call\u00ading \u201cballs and strikes.\u201d Less remembered is Sen. Herb Kohl\u2019s response that \u201cno two umpires . . . have the same strike zone.\u201d As Kohl explained, the exper\u00adi\u00adences judges bring with them to the bench inev\u00adit\u00adably shape how they under\u00adstand the contours of the law and facts in front of them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why having judges who have seen differ\u00adent aspects of the Amer\u00adican exper\u00adi\u00adence is so import\u00adant<\/a>. Federal district court Judge Carlton W. Reeves put it well: \u201cWhere people come from, what they have lived through, what they do with the time they have, and who they spent that time with \u2014 it all matters.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the many ways that Jack\u00adson would bring over\u00adlooked perspect\u00adives to the Supreme Court is through her exper\u00adi\u00adence repres\u00adent\u00ading crim\u00adinal defend\u00adants. The Supreme Court plays a major role in defin\u00ading the consti\u00adtu\u00adtional rights of defend\u00adants \u2014 from inter\u00adac\u00adtions with the police, to the rights of the accused during trial, to the scope of permiss\u00adible punish\u00adments \u2014 as well as in inter\u00adpret\u00ading federal crim\u00adinal laws. Every year, the Court considers thou\u00adsands of peti\u00adtions in crim\u00adinal cases.\u00a0<\/p>\n But while prosec\u00adutors are well-repres\u00aden\u00adted on the Supreme Court (on the current Court, Justices Samuel Alito, Sonia Soto\u00admayor, and Clar\u00adence Thomas all served as prosec\u00adutors), the Supreme Court has never<\/i> had a justice with exper\u00adi\u00adence as a public defender.\u00a0<\/p>\n The last justice with substan\u00adtial exper\u00adi\u00adence navig\u00adat\u00ading the crim\u00adinal justice system on behalf of poor defend\u00adants was the civil rights icon Thur\u00adgood Marshall, who retired from the Court more than 30\u00a0years ago. It\u2019s part of a broader pattern: across federal and state<\/a> courts, judges with defender exper\u00adi\u00adence are under\u00adrep\u00adres\u00aden\u00adted in favor of those with prosec\u00adutorial and corpor\u00adate back\u00adgrounds.<\/p>\n This is an exper\u00adi\u00aden\u00adtial chasm. Justice Sandra Day O\u2019Con\u00adnor described how import\u00adant Marshall\u2019s \u201cear of a coun\u00adselor\u201d was for the Court \u2014 someone \u201cwho under\u00adstood the vulner\u00adab\u00adil\u00adit\u00adies of the accused and estab\u00adlished safe\u00adguards for their protec\u00adtion.\u201d It can be hard to see the unfair\u00adness baked into our crim\u00adinal justice system from behind the bench. And not surpris\u00adingly, research suggests that judges with crim\u00adinal defense exper\u00adi\u00adence often approach crim\u00adinal cases differ\u00adently.<\/p>\n Last year, after eight years as a federal trial court judge, Jack\u00adson appeared before the Senate for a hear\u00ading to be confirmed to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. She reflec\u00adted on the \u201cdirect line\u201d between her public defender exper\u00adi\u00adence and her approach as a judge, includ\u00ading how she took \u201cextra care\u201d to make sure the defend\u00adants appear\u00ading before her under\u00adstood what was happen\u00ading, having seen firsthand how little her clients under\u00adstood the legal system. \u201cI think that\u2019s really import\u00adant for our entire justice system.\u201d It is.<\/p>\n One new voice is unlikely to trans\u00adform an increas\u00adingly radical conser\u00advat\u00adive major\u00adity on the Supreme Court. But giving defend\u00aders a seat at the table \u2014 and a voice in dissent \u2014 still matters. It\u2019s a step towards achiev\u00ading courts that deliver on the prom\u00adise of equal justice for all, and a land\u00admark worth celeb\u00adrat\u00ading.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n