Ketanji Brown Jackson is and isn’t 1st Black female justice

By JESSICA GRESKO
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court last week and will become its first Black female justice. But Jackson isn’t the only Black woman to be a justice. A total of 17 Black women currently serve on their state’s highest court. That’s according to the Brennan Center for Justice in New York, which has tracked diversity on those courts. A majority of the women joined the bench within the last five years and, like Jackson, shattered a barrier. They became the first Black woman on their state’s high court. In interviews, some of those women described not only their own delight at Jackson’s confirmation but also suggested there’s more work to be done to make America’s courts more reflective of its citizens.