Over 1,000 public defenders call on Senate to confirm Jackson

More than 1,000 current and former public defenders have urged the Senate to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in an open letter released Tuesday by Demand Justice, a pro-Jackson advocacy group.

Public defenders from all 50 states signed onto the letter; signatories also included defenders from Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. They wrote that “Judge Jackson is one of the most qualified Supreme Court nominees in history.”

The letter highlights Jackson’s experience, stating that “she clerked at all three levels of our federal courts and would join Justice Sonia Sotomayor as the only sitting justices who have served as both district and circuit court judges.”

The letter also stressed that President Biden’s Supreme Court nominee would bring more trial judge experience than any Supreme Court justice in nearly 100 years, adding that for the past year, “she has served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which the legal profession has long considered the second highest court in the country.”

“We agree that Judge Jackson’s firsthand experience as a public defender will be an incalculable asset to a Court that has lacked this critical perspective for too long,” it said.

If confirmed, Jackson will become the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.

The letter added that she would be the first-ever public defender to serve on the high court and the first justice with “significant criminal defense experience” since Justice Thurgood Marshall retired in 1991. 

Jackson was grilled for roughly 13 hours on Tuesday on the first day of questioning in her confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court and will face more questions on Wednesday, the third day of her confirmation hearing.