Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson stated on her recent book tour that she perceives Supreme Court opinions as a means to express her personal beliefs.
“I just feel that I have a wonderful opportunity to tell people in my opinions how I feel about the issues, and that’s what I try to do,” Jackson said.
She made the remarks while discussing her new memoir, Lovely One, before an audience of 4,000 at the Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans.
Jackson’s view of her role seems to contrast with that of most Supreme Court justices, most of whom believe their duty is to decide whether laws and issues comport with the Constitution.
The justice “apparently has a fundamental disagreement with the rest of the court about what the role of a Supreme Court justice is,” Scott Jennings, former director of political affairs for George W. Bush, said in a CNN interview on Wednesday, where he is a contributor.
“People from the ideological right and the ideological left on the court have had to put her in her place a couple of times here in this term. I would guess internally it’s causing issues at the Supreme Court,” he added.
This tension has surfaced in recent decisions. In June, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against the use of universal injunctions—legal tools federal courts had employed to block President Donald Trump’s executive orders. Justice Jackson filed a dissenting opinion, the Daily Wire noted.
“I write separately to emphasize a key conceptual point: The Court’s decision to permit the Executive to violate the Constitution with respect to anyone who has not yet sued is an existential threat to the rule of law,” she stated.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who taught law at Notre Dame University before Trump appointed her during his first term, slammed Jackson in the majority opinion, saying that “She offers a vision of the judicial role that would make even the most ardent defender of judicial supremacy blush.”
“We will not dwell on Justice Jackson’s argument, which is at odds with more than two centuries’ worth of precedent, not to mention the Constitution itself,” Barrett concluded. “We observe only this: Justice Jackson decries an imperial Executive while embracing an imperial Judiciary.”
Jackson was the sole dissenter in a Tuesday ruling that allowed the Trump administration to proceed with mass government layoffs under a February executive order. While the court’s order was under two pages, her dissenting opinion extended to 15 pages.
The Heritage Foundation’s Hans von Spakovsky told The Daily Wire this week that “Jackson is really at the far end of the spectrum,” and that her colleagues — including the other liberal justices — “are getting tired of her.”
Despite being the youngest and most recently appointed justice—nominated by President Joe Biden in 2022—Jackson speaks more frequently than any of her colleagues. Since October, she has spoken 50% more words than the next most vocal justice, Sonia Sotomayor, according to a report by Empirical SCOTUS.
She was also in the majority the least often this term and authored more opinions, dissents, and concurrences than any other justice except Clarence Thomas.
