His solo opinion marked the first time a new justice had made such a bold move in a first term on the court since Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas did so in 1991, according to Supreme Court statistics guru Adam Feldman. (Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, who joined the court in the middle of the 2016-2017 term, wrote a solo dissent in the following term after he joined.)
«Her unabashed willingness to articulate a perspective that runs counter to that held by most justices has made her the most formidable dissenting voice on the court,» said Sherrilyn Ifill, a leading civil rights attorney.
At the end of the nine-month court term that ended Friday, attention turned to major cases of affirmative action, student loan debt forgiveness and LGBTQ rights in which the court was divided along ideological lines with Jackson and his two colleagues. dissenting liberals. .
Jackson’s clash with Thomas, the only other black justice on the court, over their seemingly intractable differences over race and the Constitution generated headlines when they exchanged criticisms in separate opinions in the ruling that effectively ended the broad consideration of race in college admissions.
Appointed by President Joe Biden to replace liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, who retired in the summer of 2022, Jackson reflected the administration’s commitment to diversify the court in terms of race, gender and professional background.
‘Lightning’
Before being appointed as a district court judge in Washington by former President Barack Obama, Jackson had served as a public defender. Biden appointed her to a federal appeals court in 2021 before elevating her to the Supreme Court the following year.
Jackson made his presence felt on his first day in the ornate Supreme Court courtroom in October, asking a series of polite but insistent questions, setting a trend that would continue throughout his tenure.
«Let me try to clear it up a bit,» he said on the first day, when the court was hearing a complicated case about federal authority to regulate wetlands under the Clean Water Act.
He ended up speaking more in oral arguments over the course of the term than any other judge, according to Feldman. Based on the number of words spoken, he beat out the next most talkative judge, liberal Sonia Sotomayor, by an average of 600 words per argumentthe found.
Sometimes new judges are more likely to hold their own council when they first join the court, although a new oral argument format introduced during the pandemic, where each judge has a chance to weigh in on the replacement of the previous round-robin format is probably part of it. of the explanation
For some court observers, what is more important is what Jackson is talking about than how many words he uses to say it.
When the court in October heard oral arguments on a conservative attempt to further weaken the landmark Voting Rights Act, Jackson was quick to counter the notion that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution was «color-blind,» noting that it had as an objective to repair the historical damages to the blacks. after the Civil War and the end of slavery.
«I don’t think the historical record establishes that the founders believed race neutrality or race blindness was required, right?» she said.