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Which justice would Ketanji Brown Jackson vote off the Supreme Court?
Don’t get too excited. That’s not actually happening.
But she may have been thinking about it during a graduation speech she gave at American University’s law school in Washington, D.C.
It was there Saturday that President Joe Biden’s high-court pick told graduates that she’s a “super fan” of the reality TV show “Survivor,” where people compete to be the last one standing as they vote fellow competitors off the island.
Jackson told students that one lesson from the show is to make the most of your available resources. She also said she knows “what it is like to commit to moving forward even when the deck is stacked against you.”
Being in the Democratic minority on a 6-3 court controlled by Republicans, Jackson has certainly made the most of it, whether in pressing lawyers at oral arguments or dissenting when she thinks the majority is out of line.
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But especially in the biggest cases, the deck is firmly stacked in Republicans’ favor. That could become even more apparent as this court term nears its end and the majority hands down rulings likely to further tear away at voting rights and affirmative action, among other things. The final and most contentious decisions of the term typically come in late June.
“My advice to you is to do your best to shut out distractions, use your time wisely and figure out how to make the most of what you have,” Jackson told the law school graduates.
We’ll be watching to see how she survives the rest of this term and decades to come on the court.