Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson writing a memoir, titled ‘Lovely One’

by Deon Osborne January 5, 2023January 5, 2023

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Months into her historic, lifetime appointment as the first Black woman to sit on the United States Supreme Court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is working on a book about her life titled, “Lovely One.”

“Mine has been an unlikely journey,” Justice Jackson said in a statement released by Random House on Thursday and reported by the Associated Press.

“But the path was paved by courageous women and men in whose footsteps I placed my own, road warriors like my own parents, and also luminaries in the law, whose brilliance and fortitude lit my way,” Justice Jackson added.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, 52, named her memoir after the English translation of her birth name, Ketanji Onyika Brown. Her aunt suggested the name after spending time in West Africa as a Peace Corps worker.

“This memoir marries the public record of my life with what is less known. It will be a transparent accounting of what it takes to rise through the ranks of the legal profession, especially as a woman of color with an unusual name and as a mother and a wife striving to reconcile the demands of a high-profile career with the private needs of my loved ones.”

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson writes memoir, “Lovely One”

Fulfilling a campaign promise to appoint the first Black woman to the Supreme Court, President Biden nominated Jackson to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer in what became a highly contentious, and at times racist, series of hearings in front of the U.S. Senate.

Yet, in taking her ceremonial oath in September 2022, Justice Jackson emerged from the political chaos with poise and grace, despite the depravity of some Senators and media pundits who berated her on everything but her qualifications.

Justice Jackson issued her first opinion in November 2022, dissenting in a death row case. She’s also blasted Alabama’s efforts to gut voting rights in the state.

Now, she’s set to release her first book, a memoir that Random House referred to as a story she tells with “refreshing honesty, lively wit, and warmth.”

“My hope is that the fullness of my journey as a daughter, sister, wife, mother, litigator, and friend will stand as a testament for young women, people of color, and dreamers everywhere,” Justice Jackson stated, “especially those who nourish outsized ambitions and believe in the possibility of achieving them.”