Before she was President Biden's pick for the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson had already scored this important endorsement ... from her daughter.
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00:00She trotted off and she came back a little while later with the following handwritten note.
00:06Dear Mr. President, while you are considering judges to fill Justice Scalia's seat on the
00:12Supreme Court, I would like to add my mother, Katonji Brown-Jackson, of the District Court
00:18to the list.
00:30My youngest daughter came to us, maybe about three weeks or so after Justice Scalia passed,
00:38and asked us very earnestly whether we had heard that Justice Scalia had died and there
00:43was a vacancy on the Supreme Court.
00:47We assured her that we had.
00:50And she said that some of her middle school friends had been talking and they said to
00:54her, you know, your mom's a judge, she should really apply for that position.
01:02Now Layla thought that was a pretty good idea and so she had come to tell me that I should
01:08submit an application for the open Supreme Court seat.
01:11Well, Patrick and I explained to her that getting to be on the Supreme Court isn't really
01:16the kind of job that you apply for.
01:19You just have to be lucky enough to have the President find you among the thousands of
01:23people who might want to do that job, to which Layla responded, well, if the President
01:29has to find you, I'm going to write him a letter to tell him who you are.
01:34She trotted off and she came back a little while later with the following handwritten
01:40note.
01:41Dear Mr. President, while you are considering judges to fill Justice Scalia's seat on the
01:47Supreme Court, I would like to add my mother, Katonji Brown-Jackson, of the District Court
01:53to the list.
01:54I, her daughter, Layla Jackson, of 11 years old, strongly believe that she would be an
02:01excellent fit for the position.
02:03She is determined, honest, and never breaks a promise to anyone, even if there are other
02:08things she'd rather do.
02:11She can demonstrate commitment and is loyal and never brags.
02:16I think she would make a great Supreme Court Justice, even if the workload will be larger
02:21on the court or if you have other nominees.
02:25Please consider her aspects for the job.
02:27Thank you for listening, Layla Jackson.
02:31Well, it is difficult to put into words how it felt to get such a ringing endorsement
02:37from my own daughter.
02:40It was an actual testimony that was by far more meaningful than any make-believe account
02:46of how my daughters feel.
02:49In that moment, I realized not only that I'm raising an assertive young woman who
02:54isn't afraid to speak her mind, even to the President of the United States, but also that
02:59my daughters are not oblivious to my work and are proud of me as I am of them and our
03:06entire family.
03:08It has been a lot of hard work trying to balance work and motherhood, and like so many other
03:14people, I often feel as if I'm failing in both arenas.
03:19But in that one brief shining moment, as I read Layla's letter, I got a glimpse of my
03:26professional and personal life combined, and what I saw made me feel as if my husband and
03:32I are well on our way to achieving success in both worlds.