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This is fresh air.
I'm Tanya Moseley, and my guest today is Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
She's written a new memoir that gives us a rare glimpse into her legal mind, detailing her life and the experiences that led her to becoming the first black woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court.
Nominated by President Biden and confirmed by the Senate in 2022, Jackson spoke more than any other justice during her first year.
She's also authored several solo dissents at the heart of the nation's culture wars in defense of labor unions, affirmative action, the court's approach to abortion related cases, voting rights and immigration law.
This summer, Justice Jackson gave a blistering dissent to the court's opinion to grant Donald Trump partial immunity from prosecution, arguing that the majority's decision poses a fundamental threat to american democracy and the rule of law, essentially creating a new power for presidents.
Her new memoir is titled Lovely one, which is the meaning of her name, Katanji Onyika, an african name that her aunt suggested her parents choose to express her pride in african heritage.
Justice Jackson starts off her memoir with a landmark case that has been a guiding light for her, a Supreme Court dissent from 1896, Plessy v.
Ferguson, which upheld racial segregation under the separate but equal doctrine.
The lone dissenter on the court was Justice John Marshall Harlan, who argued, our constitution is colorblind.
More than 120 years later, Justice Jackson was sworn in using Harlan's Bible, symbolically connecting her to his legacy of dissent against racial segregation.
My conversation with Justice Jackson today is focused on her path to becoming a justice.
Her rise through their legal profession ranks as a black woman with an uncommon name, a mother and wife striving to reconcile the demands of a high profile career, and how her experiences as a public defender and federal judge have informed her role on the Supreme Court.
As the court rules dictate, Justice Jackson and I will not be talking about past or present Supreme Court cases, the upcoming presidential election, or any other political matters.
And with that, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, welcome to fresh air.
Thank you so much.