Names and faces
■ Ketanji Brown Jackson’s history-making confirmation as the first Black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court inspired an outpouring of letters from schoolchildren throughout the country, colorful artwork and even a crocheted doll of the new justice, complete with tiny glasses, a string of pearls and a black robe. “More than anything, your position has brought me joy. I screamed down our school halls with joy!” wrote a high school teacher from Los Angeles. “I think it’s cool you followed your dreams and did what you wanted without other people telling you what to do,” wrote a third grader in a letter decorated with a rainbow-colored courthouse. “I bet it feels good to be the first.” Hundreds of letters, enough to fill a mail bin, and other mementos are being sorted and organized to be stored in the justice’s personal archive at the court. “You are the start of justice!” wrote a third grader in a letter illustrated with the scales of justice favoring women over men. Jackson, a federal judge in D.C. for the past decade and a former federal public defender, is the eighth justice in the court’s 233-year history who is not a white man. She officially became a justice Thursday in a small ceremony at the court, surrounded by her family and new colleagues — and by the retiring justice she replaces, Stephen Breyer. The daughter of a school principal and an attorney, Jackson grew up in Florida, where she was a high school debate champion before attending Harvard. When Jackson takes the bench in the fall, the court for the first time will have four women. The fan mail sent to her chambers reflects excitement over the milestone. “You have set a standard for other women of color to follow!” wrote one high school student. Added another: “About time!”
■ Amber Heard’s lawyers have asked a judge to throw out the $10.35 million verdict against her in the defamation case filed by ex-husband Johnny Depp, arguing that the verdict was not supported by the evidence and that one of the jurors may not have been properly vetted by the court. In post-trial motions filed Friday, Heard’s attorneys call the jury’s June 1 award of $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages to Depp “excessive” and “indefensible.” They ask the judge to set aside the verdict and dismiss Depp’s lawsuit or order a new trial. The judge has already reduced the compensatory damages to $350,000 under a state cap. Depp sued Heard for libel over a 2018 column she wrote describing herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” Depp’s lawyers alleged he was defamed even though the article never mentioned him by name. The six-week televised trial turned into a spectacle that offered a window into their dysfunctional marriage.