DALLAS — Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on Tuesday urged Americans to defend the judiciary from attacks that jeopardize its independence, warning that such threats have the potential to seriously damage American democracy.
“Equality before the law is a key principle of freedom in our society, and in order to achieve that you have to have an independent judiciary — a judiciary that is not beholden to the political branches or the people,” Jackson said during an appearance before hundreds of students at Southern Methodist University. “I just want people to really pay attention to this, so to somehow stand up for the judiciary when people — judges — are being attacked and undermined is really an attack on our society.”
Jackson did not mention any specific attacks on the judiciary, although since the Supreme Court struck down a key aspect of President Donald Trump’s tariff policy earlier this year, Trump has launched a series of unusually harsh attacks on the three members of the court’s conservative majority, who joined the liberal justices in the 6-3 ruling.
Trump has also called for the impeachment of district court judges who have ruled against the government on other issues, such as deporting alleged gang members to El Salvador’s notorious anti-terrorism prisons without due process. Those calls prompted Chief Justice John Roberts to publicly declare that he believed judges should not face impeachment for disagreeing with their rulings.
At a conference in Puerto Rico a year ago, Jackson issued a similar warning about attempts to intimidate the judiciary. However, she delivered that message to a group of federal judges, and her latest comments are more directly aimed at encouraging the public to resist intrusions on judges’ autonomy.
When Jackson appeared at Southern Methodist University on Tuesday, she did not comment directly on the high court’s recent series of unusually contentious opinions, some of which included acrimonious exchanges between conservative justices and their most junior colleagues.
Just last week, Jackson objected to the high court’s agreement to speed up the impact of a recent Voting Rights Act ruling so that it would be more likely to take effect this year, with three conservative justices unhappy with her claim that they were allowing “principles.” [to] Make way for power. “
Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas, called one of her accusations “baseless and insulting” and accused her of making “baseless and completely irresponsible accusations.”
Asked Tuesday what the mood was like in the courtroom, Jackson said: “Yeah, no, it was fine.”
The response drew incredulous laughter from the crowd, but Jackson insisted the justices’ personal interactions were friendly.
“We’re very good at compartmentalizing. It’s part of the job,” she said. “In the world of law and the world of writing your opinion, you disagree and you have the opportunity to express your opinion in the context of your opinion, but in our day-to-day interactions, none of us take it personally and we get along well.”
In a later appearance before an older crowd attending a university lecture series, interviewer Tina Perry noted that Jackson described having to remind herself when she was sworn in that the incident was actually true.
“I do that a lot these days,” Jackson said with a laugh, and the audience was quick to respond.
Jackson told the students that the high court is a formal and ceremonial place that she never participated in when she clerked for Judge Stephen Breyer, who he will replace when he is nominated by President Joe Biden in 2022. She also acknowledged dissatisfaction with some of the Supreme Court’s traditions, such as the practice of justices speaking in order of seniority in closed sessions.
“I’m a junior judge, so it’s not my favorite part, but we do do it in a very formalistic way,” she said.
Some people who attended Jackson’s event later Tuesday expressed disappointment that she focused almost entirely on her personal story and memoir, without discussing any of the court’s recent rulings, such as one last month that significantly narrowed the Voting Rights Act.
“I wish we knew more about the courts,” said Madeline McClure, a child safety advocate in Dallas. “She has a wonderful life story, but I hope there’s at least a little bit of understanding of what goes on behind the scenes in the courtroom.”
