Former judge: Ketanji Jackson ‘important for us as Americans’

If Ketanji Brown Jackson is approved by the U.S. Senate to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court, she will be the first Black woman on the court.

It would put the U.S. Supreme Court ahead of the Connecticut State Supreme Court, according to Angela Robinson, a retired state Superior Court judge and visiting professor at Quinnipiac University. There has never been a Black woman appointed to the state Supreme Court.

“I say, ‘OK, Connecticut, look to your own,’” Robinson said. “We have not had a Black woman justice on our state Supreme Court. It’s a travesty in 2022.”

Robinson was one of two Black women appointed to the bench in 1998. Together, they were the fourth and fifth Black women to be appointed as judges in Connecticut.

“The first Black woman judge was appointed in 1991,” she said. “There were three sitting when I was appointed.”

Connecticut is relatively diverse when it comes to judges, Robinson said.

“We’ve come a long way in Connecticut. Historically, at the time, there were still a number of states that did not have any Black women judges,” she said.

Robinson retired in 2018 when she felt, she said, “ready to do some other things.”

“I don’t think the average American understands how constraining being a judge is on your personal life,” she said. “I did want to participate in the public discourse.”

She’s since been working as chief inclusion and equity officer at New Haven law firm Wiggin and Dana. She’s the author of “The First Black Women Judges,” which recounts the history of three Black women judges in the United States.

One of those women was a direct influence on Robinson’s decision to become a judge at the age of 33. Jane Bolin became the first Black woman appointed a judge in the United States in 1931.

Robinson grew up in Connecticut and Bolin was raised in upstate New York, but both had graduated from Yale Law School.

“When I was considering becoming a judge, I was ambivalent of my ability to do it,” Robinson said. “Her model inspired me to try. The power of representation to inspire is enormous.”

That, Robinson said, is what Jackson’s appointment will do for young Black women.

“It’s really important for us as Americans to see a Black woman on the court,” she said. “It starts to dismantle the narrative that’s being taught that you have to look a certain way to have a certain level of success. That’s freeing for everybody.”

It’s not easy for anyone to become a U.S. Supreme Court justice.

“You have to get a clerkship with a certain judge to get a clerkship with another judge to get a clerkship on the supreme court,” Robinson said, though it begins with attending a school like Yale or Harvard.

“All of this starts to eliminate that vast amount of talent that could get to the Supreme Court,” Robinson said. “All of that institutionalizes barriers that make it difficult for women, and in particular Black women, to make it through the process.”

Black women also have to combat racism and sexism, she said, making it a profoundly difficult prospect. “There have been Black women who have been considered, but they never made it past the consideration stage,” she said.

As Jackson is questioned by U.S. senators, Robinson said she will be listening for “dog-whistles,” subtly racist remarks or questions intended to delegitimize Jackson as a judge and to inflame the opposition.

“What I’m waiting to hear is how they are treating her differently than they have treated other candidates that have come before them,” she said. “Any case of ‘othering’ is what I’ll be listening for. If they start comparing her to radicals or socialists, those are dog-whistles that signal she’s not really one of ‘us.’”

Jackson clerked for Breyer, was appointed a federal appellate judge, a federal district court judge, a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, has been an attorney in private practice, and a federal public defender. Over the course of her career, she has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate three times.

“Her credentials mirror and in some ways exceed those who are on the bench,” Robinson said.

Jackson was nominated by President Joe Biden, and so Robinson expects Republican opposition, an attempt to “cast her as un-American and unpatriotic.”

If so, Robinson believes that would be a missed opportunity. Jackson would replace Bryer, for whom she clerked and who is known to be a more liberal voice on the court. “The dynamics on the court would not change,” Robinson said.

“This is such a foolish play for the members of the Republican Party,” Robinson said. “This is an opportunity to rise above partisanship.”