Ketanji Brown Jackson Reveals Daughters Supported Her Appointment

For the first time, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is talking about her eldest daughter’s autism diagnosis.

Jackson, the 53-year-old lawyer who became the first Black woman in history to become a Supreme Court Justice appeared on Wednesday’s episode of The View to promote her upcoming memoir Lovely One. In the book, she writes about sitting down with her daughters Talia and Leila ahead of taking the Supreme Court job to ensure they were comfortable with the public knowing everything about their family.

The View co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin also noted the headlines surrounding vice presidential candidate Tim Walz’s neurodiverse son Gus who grabbed headlines for his emotional reaction to seeing his father at the Democratic National Convention.

“It is difficult as a parent who’s in the public eye because you want to protect your children and your family, and you know that they aren’t making the choice to do this,” Jackson said. “You decide to be in this job, and so you don’t want to subject them to the intrusion of having people know if they don’t want people to know.”

Ketanji Brown Jackson appeared on ‘The View’ on Wednesday. ABC/AP Photo

She continued, “In my case, my husband and I sat down our daughters after we’d gotten a call from the White House and just said, ‘Listen, you know, this is going to change our lives if I end up getting this position, and it might be that people will know all about us, and I need to know that you’re comfortable with that because I won’t go forward if it’s something that you aren’t comfortable with.’ And, luckily for me, both of my daughters were very, very supportive.”

Jackson also revealed that her eldest daughter had no worries about showing her autism diagnosis to the world.

“‘This is who I am,'” Jackson recalled her daughter saying. “She’s like, ‘What difference does it make? So what if people know that?'”

In another notable moment on the show, co-host Joy Behar told Jackson, “I have to ask you this question because public opinion of the Supreme Court has hit an all-time low. You might notice that in the media.”

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s husband Dr. Patrick Jackson, right, and daughters Leila Jackson, second from right, and Talia Jackson, second from left, arrive on the South Lawn of the White House where President Joe Biden,… More AP Photo
Moderator Whoopi Goldberg audibly reacted to Behar’s question preface, interjecting “Sorry, I just sometimes I just fall in love with the way you ask the question.”

“Is it too blunt? Behar asked. “Well, let me see if I can sugarcoat it: What can you do any of you do to turn this around?”

Jackson responded, “Public opinion of the court is really, really important to the court as an institution. You know, unlike the other branches of government, we don’t have any way of enforcing our opinions other than people’s beliefs that the rule of law is important and that the court is safeguarding it.”

“I try to do things like write opinions that I hope will allow the public to understand what’s going on. As I said in my confirmation hearing, which I talk a little bit about in the book, I try very carefully in my opinions to stay in my lane judge.”

She continued, “You know the understanding that the court is one of the three branches that we don’t do, policy decisions that we are focused on law, I separate out my personal views when I’m actually ruling in a very intentional way in order to make sure that I’m applying the law. I do think it’s our responsibility to reassure the public in our rulings, and those are the kinds of things that I try to do.”

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro will stop by The View on Friday and California Rep. Nancy Pelosi will take a seat at the table on Monday.