Ketanji Brown Jackson’s time as a public defender makes her a rarity on federal bench

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, a former public defender and trial judge who counts several police officers among her family, would bring to the U.S. Supreme Court a unique mix of experiences that could influence her rulings, court watchers say.

Still, they are split on whether that background should play a role in her judgments.

“There are 300 million Americans. Everyone has different backgrounds, and the law is supposed to be blind,” said Gayle Trotter, president of the American Women’s Alliance. “When you put on the black robe, you should leave everything behind.”

Curt Levey, president of the Committee for Justice, said having a unique point of view could be beneficial.

“An understanding of how the criminal justice system works — and both sides of it, not just prosecution — I do think that’s helpful,” he said.

Should Judge Jackson be confirmed by the Senate next month, she will become the only justice on the court who has experience as a public defender. She will be replacing retiring Justice Stephen G. Breyer.

Several of the justices have held prosecutorial roles in their careers, and some court watchers speculate that the Supreme Court would benefit from the addition of a justice who has experience representing defendants.

Federal judges with public defender backgrounds are rare.

During her confirmation hearing last year to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, noted that only two judges in the 179 circuit court judgeships had spent significant time as public defenders.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat, cited statistics from the Center for American Progress that found only 1% of sitting circuit court judges had spent the majority of their careers as public defenders.

President Biden appointed Judge Jackson to the influential U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia in June. Before joining the D.C. Circuit, Judge Jackson spent eight years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where she issued more than 500 opinions.

She is a graduate of Harvard Law School and clerked for Justice Breyer. Judge Jackson has a wide range of experience as a lawyer. She worked in private practice and for the government as an assistant federal public defender. She also served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

Judge Jackson appealed convictions of criminals as an assistant public defender in the District from 2005 to 2007.

In one case, she successfully overturned the conviction of a man for unlawful possession of a firearm after arguing that the jury selection process was flawed. She also successfully represented a lawyer accused of tax evasion.

In another notable case, she represented a Guantanamo Bay detainee challenging his status as an “enemy combatant.”

Judge Jackson told senators last year that her experience as a defense attorney working on appeals revealed that clients did not understand what happened to them during the trial process.

“When I became a trial judge, one of the things I do now is I take extra care to communicate with the defendants who come before me in the courtroom. I speak to them directly and not just to their lawyers. I use their names. I explain every stage of the proceeding because I want them to know what is going on,” she said during her confirmation hearing to the circuit court last year. “I explain to them, ‘This is why your behavior was so harmful to society that Congress thought it needed to be made a crime.’”

She said criminals can be rehabilitated only if they understand what they did wrong.

“There is a direct line from my defender service to what I do on the bench, and I think it is beneficial,” she said.

Ms. Trotter said the high court doesn’t need a justice whom Democrats champion to be “soft on crime.”

“If you want to say her being a public defender, her having experience in the sentencing commission, would weigh in her favor, I would say just the opposite,” Ms. Trotter said.

Democrats are quick to mention that Judge Jackson has several family members serving in law enforcement.

“She comes from a family of law enforcement, with her brother and uncles having served as police officers,” Mr. Biden said last month when he nominated her. 

“That’s one reason, I expect, why the Fraternal Order of Police — the national organization — today said, and I quote, ‘There is little doubt [that] she has the temperament, the intellect, and the legal experience, and family background to have earned this appointment.’ And they went on to say they are confident she will, quote, ‘approach her future cases with an open mind and treat issues related to law enforcement fairly and justly,’” the president said.

James Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, told The Washington Times that the group stopped short of endorsing Judge Jackson.

“The fact that she comes from a family with a tradition of service in law enforcement … has to have at least in some extent informed her worldview,” he said. “Opinions on the bench are not supposed to be based on how you grew up. They are supposed to be based on the law.”

Mr. Levey said bringing diversity in terms of experience in the law is a positive for the bench — as important as the beneficial diversity that Judge Jackson would bring as the first Black woman on the court.

“Diversity of that sort is useful,”  he said. “Not only haven’t there been public defenders, but there haven’t been criminal defense lawyers on the court.”