Justice Jackson Reshapes Supreme Court with Legislative History and Public Outreach

Ketanji Brown Jackson BioSnap a weekly updated Biography.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has been making significant waves on the Supreme Court and beyond over the past few days. Most notably, she participated in oral arguments on Monday in a major copyright case involving Cox Communications and Sony, where she demonstrated her distinctive approach to constitutional interpretation by repeatedly invoking legislative history—a interpretive method that had fallen out of favor during the textualism movement that has dominated the Court in recent years. During the arguments, Jackson pressed Cox's attorney on whether selling internet services could ever constitute culpable conduct in copyright infringement cases, proposing detailed hypotheticals to probe the boundaries of ISP liability. Her aggressive questioning signaled she's willing to challenge the conservative legal establishment's orthodox positions.

What's particularly noteworthy is how her approach is already reshaping oral arguments. Republican lawyer Paul Clement, arguing before the Court, felt compelled to incorporate legislative history into his arguments specifically because Jackson had reintroduced it to the discourse. This demonstrates how her presence on the bench is shifting the Court's conversational framework, even among conservative advocates trying to count to five votes.

Her commitment to legislative history reflects a deeper jurisprudential disagreement with the textualist majority. In her questioning, Jackson referenced Congressional intent behind the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, worrying that Cox's position would undermine what Congress actually intended when passing the law. This echoes her June clash with Justice Neil Gorsuch over legislative history in a disability rights case, where she wrote a forceful dissent arguing that the Court too often "closes its eyes to context, enactment history, and the legislature's goals when assessing statutory meaning."

Beyond the courtroom, Jackson continues building her public profile. She's scheduled to make a special one-night-only appearance at the Broadway musical "& Juliet" on Saturday, December 14th at the 8 p.m. show, with audience members invited to meet her afterward. Additionally, book clubs and community organizations across the country are hosting discussions of her recently published memoir "Lovely One," including events at libraries and civic organizations this month. She's also been quoted offering wisdom to the University of Mississippi, with "gratitude" being her one-word piece of advice to students. These appearances underscore her emergence as not just a judicial voice but a public intellectual willing to engage directly with broader American audiences.

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