Alyssa Whitaker 1L

“During the confirmation, I definitely got teary-eyed, in part because of my frustration and the process, but also the fact that this woman is beyond accomplished in everything she has done, yet still that has not garnered the respect of these senators,” said Whitaker. “But on a different note, it’s reinforcing the promise of democracy. The idea of what America is versus what America could be, that gap is closing.” 

Damani Ashton 3L

“Long term, I think Justice Jackson’s confirmation will have a significant impact because aside from her race and gender. Justice Jackson provides a diverse perspective,” said Ashton. “As a former public defender and member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, I’m sure her vision of the law has been shaped in a way that is not currently represented on the Supreme Court. Hopefully, her confirmation breaks the glass ceiling and opens doors for other viable candidates who are also uniquely situated.

Benjamin Baker 1L

“As a young Black first-year law student, just to see our Supreme Court look more and more like America and for future law students to be able to open up a casebook and see the name Ketanji Brown Jackson, you can’t write a better script for that,” said Baker. “The long-term impact is that for little Black girls who are growing up and wanting to be lawyers, they can see themselves. Not just imagining, it but seeing someone that looks like them.”

Jasmine Marchbanks-Owens 1L

“I think it is very inspiring to see someone who looks like me, a dark-skinned Black woman to be on the highest court in the country. For me in particular, I’m very interested in working with community and helping with social movements, so to see someone with a background in public interest make it that high up is monumental in itself. A lot of times, what we’ll see is people sitting on the Supreme Court have worked in big corporate law firms. So, to see someone who has worked to help the rights and representation of people within the courtroom, now doing that on the Supreme Court is just inspiring. I’m also very excited for opportunities to be able to clerk with her. There is definitely a disparity in Black law students being able to clerk, in general, and especially recently graduated students being able to clerk for the Supreme Court.”