The Phoenix Flyer

Here’s more about Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who has Miami roots

By: Diane Rado - February 25, 2022 9:48 am

U.S. Supreme Court, Dec. 2, 2019. Credit: Robin Bravender

If you haven’t read the Phoenix story last month about Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, please read it now: According to news outlets, President Joe Biden has tapped Jackson for the U.S. Supreme Court. If confirmed by the Senate, she’ll be the first Black woman to serve on the highest court in the land.

Our Washington, D.C. bureau wrote a story about Jackson on Jan. 27, saying she was born in Washington, D.C., but grew up in Miami. She graduated from Miami Palmetto Senior High School before going on to Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

The story also mentions that Jackson’s parents both started out as public school teachers. Her father, Johnny Brown, later became an attorney for the Miami-Dade School Board, and her mother, Ellery Brown, became the principal at New World School of the Arts, a public high school with a magnet program.

There’s a lot more in the story written by Ariana Figueroa, a reporter at the States Newsroom, in the Washington, D.C, bureau. The nonprofit States Newsroom includes the Florida Phoenix.

You can read about Jackson here.

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Diane Rado

Diane Rado has covered state and local government and public schools in six states over some 30 years, focusing on policy and investigative stories as well as legislative and political reporting. She is married to a journalist and has three adult children.