Supreme Court of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is working on a memory. Jackson, the first black woman named to the court, calls the book «Lovely One.»
“Mine has been an unlikely journey,” Jackson said in a statement released Thursday by Random House.
“But the path was paved by brave women and men in whose steps I placed my own, warriors of the road like my own parents, and also luminaries in the law, whose brilliance and strength illuminated my path. This memory marries the public record of my life with what is less known. It will be a transparent account 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 wife who struggles to reconcile the demands of a high-profile career with private needs. of my loved ones.»
No release date has been set for “Lovely One.” Jackson, 52, was born Ketanji Onyika Brown. The book’s title comes from the English translation of Ketanji Onyika, the name suggested by an aunt who was a Peace Corps worker in West Africa at the time.
Jackson joined the court last year after President Joe Biden appointed her to succeed retiring Stephen Breyer. She previously served as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
“My hope is that the fullness of my journey as a daughter, sister, wife, mother, litigator and friend will be a testament to young women, people of color and dreamers everywhere,” Jackson added, “especially those who nurture excessive ambitions and believe in the possibility of achieving them”.
«Lovely One» is Jackson’s first book, but not the first by a current member of the Supreme Court. Judges Neil Gorsuch and Sonia Sotomayor are among those who have published books in recent years. Judge Amy Coney Barrett has a deal With Penguin Random House’s Sentinel stamp.
Financial terms for «Lovely One» were not disclosed, though the interest in it makes it likely that its breakthrough is at least comparable to the seven-figure deals negotiated in the past by Sotomayor memoir and Judge Clarence Thomas.
Announcing Jackson’s book, Random House called it a story that tells with «refreshing honesty, lively wit and warmth.»
“Judge Jackson invites readers into her life and world, recounting the experiences that have shaped her,” the ad reads in part, “from growing up in Miami with barrier-breaking educator parents during the 1960s to honing her voice as champion public speaking to improvising and participating in seminal student movements at Harvard to balance the joys and demands of marriage and motherhood while advancing Big Law, and ultimately to making history by joining the highest court in the nation.” .
