Democracy Dies in Darkness

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s memoir explores prejudice, parenting

In a deeply personal book, the first Black woman on the Supreme Court writes about struggling to understand her daughter’s neurological differences.

10 min
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is photographed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on September 04, 2024. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)

As the hardworking child of academically focused parents, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dreamed of reaching the highest levels of the legal profession. She even wrote in her college application to Harvard about becoming the first Black woman on the Supreme Court.

But when the Biden administration called in 2022 with news that she was being vetted for that exact role, Jackson hesitated. She worried about the harsh spotlight on her family and the potential impact on her older daughter, Talia, who is on the autism spectrum.

Jackson and her equally driven type-A husband had initially struggled to grasp their child’s neurological differences, and Jackson wanted to be sure her daughter was comfortable with the possibility of the diagnosis becoming public.

“They had not asked for their lives to be raked over, simply because their mother dreamed of entering a realm where no one with her background and experiences had ever been before,” Jackson, 53, writes in her new memoir, “Lovely One.” Both Jackson’s daughters and her husband encouraged her to pursue her dream.

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