Updated April 4, 2022
Committee on the Judiciary
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator:
On behalf of our 3 million members and the 50 million students they serve, we urge you to VOTE YES on the historic nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the United States Supreme Court. Votes on this issue will be included in NEA’s Report Card for the 117th Congress.
Judge Jackson reflects the best of the legal profession and the best of America. The daughter of public school teachers and a public high school graduate herself, she excelled from the outset of her academic career. She received her B.A. from Harvard University (magna cum laude), her J.D. from Harvard Law School (cum laude), and was supervising editor of the Harvard Law Review.
Decades of legal experience and service on federal courts, which include clerking for Justice Stephen Breyer, have given Judge Jackson a deep and rich understanding of our nation’s laws and courts. Her knowledge of the many criminal law issues that come before the Supreme Court was honed by experiences as an assistant federal public defender in the District of Columbia and as assistant special counsel, and later vice chair, of the U.S. Sentencing Commission. If confirmed, Judge Jackson would be the first member of the Supreme Court with significant criminal defense experience since Justice Thurgood Marshall retired in 1991. She would be the only Supreme Court justice to have served as a public defender.
Judge Jackson has garnered respect and recognition across partisan and ideological lines, and received broad support from the Senate for several high-level appointments. She was confirmed by unanimous consent to the U.S. Sentencing Commission in 2010. She was confirmed in 2013 by voice vote to her seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where she served for eight years. She was confirmed by a bipartisan vote to her seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the most powerful federal appeals court in the country, nearly a year ago.
Judge Jackson’s nearly 600 rulings reflect her dedication to being a fair-minded, even-handed jurist committed to equal justice for all. They also reflect a strong understanding of the limits on administrative agencies’ authority to strip away long held workplace protections. As a federal appeals judge, Judge Jackson reversed a Trump-era Federal Labor Relations Authority rule that made it easier for government agencies to make workplace changes without having to negotiate with public sector unions. Am. Fed’n of Gov’t Employees, AFL-CIO v. Federal Labor Relations Authority, 25 F.4th 1 (D.C. Cir. 2022). As a district judge, Judge Jackson set aside a proposed rule issued by the Trump-era National Labor Relations Board that would have made it more difficult to secure union representation. Am. Fed’n of Lab. & Cong. of Indus. Organizations v. Nat’l Lab. Rels. Bd., 466 F. Supp. 3d 68 (D.D.C. 2020), order amended on reconsideration, 471 F. Supp. 3d 228 (D.D.C. 2020).
In addition to her exceptional qualifications and record of public service, Judge Jackson’s confirmation would be a long overdue milestone for our country—she would be the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court. A federal bench that reflects the diversity of our nation is vital to robust and informed decision-making, and could help foster public trust in the institution and its decisions. It is past time that we have a Black woman serve on our nation’s highest court.
Our public schools, educators, students and their families are facing tremendous challenges. We need a Supreme Court whose lived experience reflects all of America, a court that understands how its rulings impact people’s daily lives. Judge Jackson’s hearing before the Judiciary Committee deepened NEA’s support for her confirmation. Help make our country more just and fair: VOTE YES on confirming Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the United States Supreme Court.
Sincerely,
Rebecca S. Pringle
President
National Education Association
