Two years ago, as her confirmation hearing marched forward, Ketanji Brown Jackson, on her way to becoming the first black woman to serve on the Supreme Court, stood firm against withering questions posed by Senator Ted Cruz, quite possibly the most despised politician in the United States. During the hearing, Cruz admitted a shared history with Jackson, as the two of them are graduates of Harvard Law School.
Cruz utilized a section of his allotted time to comment on the admissions policy advanced by his esteemed alma mater, suggesting that the college was intentionally discriminating against Asian American students. Concurrently, the Students for Fair Admissions vs Harvard case was being shepherded through the court system. This case would eventually end up before the Supreme Court’s nine justices, the majority of whom are actively hostile against Harvard University’s employment of a holistic admission process that accounted for a student’s race.
Referring to her time spent as a member of the Harvard Board of Directors, a seemingly skeptical Cruz asked Ketanji Brown Jackson if she would recuse herself from hearing the Harvard admissions case after her confirmation. Aware that hearing the case would present a conflict of interest and incite controversy, Ketanji Brown Jackson announced her intention to recuse, another word for disqualifying oneself from participating in a court case.
Ketanji Brown Jackson, confirmed to the Supreme Court in Spring 2022, immediately showed that she belonged on that court. As she adjudicated her first few cases, she broadcasted a fierce and brilliant intellect for millions of her supporters and detractors. Unbowed by her status as a “rookie” and ideological minority on the court, she spoke more often than many expected, asking trenchant questions and educating obtuse conservative lawyers about topics. In her written opinions, she expertly interweaves a penchant for storytelling with cold-hard facts, concocting compelling, enlightening, and accessible reading materials for law novices like me.
Ketanji Brown Jackson is the exact opposite of Justice Clarence Thomas, the other black person serving on the Supreme Court. Thomas is the second black male Supreme Court Justice, the conservative response to Thurgood Marshall, the first black justice. Justice Thomas is renowned for his longevity, as he has spent more than thirty years on the court.
Justices Jackson and Thomas have sparred about race through their written opinions, with Ketanji Brown Jackson batting away Clarence Thomas as if he were a fly, filleting him with her prodigious intellect. Justice Jackson also upstages Justice Thomas without speaking. She kept her word to Ted Cruz by recusing herself from the Students for Fair Admissions vs Harvard case, exhibiting probity and moral rectitude. Moreover, recently, Justice Jackson recused herself from the Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo case, referring to a specific section of the judicial code of conduct when expressing her reasoning. Interestingly, the Loper Bright Enterprises case has been shepherded through the court system by the Koch Network, a conservative business conglomerate. Justice Clarence Thomas enjoys a nefarious connection to the network, hence the strident and repeated calls for him to recuse from that case. Alas, Justice Thomas did not heed the calls to resign, adding to the miasma of corruption that his presence radiates through the halls of the Supreme Court Building.
It will not be too long before the Supreme Court hears arguments related to the United States of America v. Donald Trump. Generated in response to the historical insurrection — fomented by former President Donald Trump — that took place in the United States Capital on January 6, 2021, many law experts believe that this case could ultimately lead to Donald Trump’s imprisonment. At this moment, the case is stalled between the wheels of the court system, as they continue to grind forward. Three members of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals are deliberating on Trump’s claim of absolute presidential immunity, a fantastically legal theory that Trump hopes will shield him from prosecution for his crimes.
Justice Thomas’s wife, Ginni, was involved in the insurrection against the sitting government of the United States. Trusting that the election was “stolen” from Donald Trump, the chief instigator, an apoplectic Ginni Thomas sent suspicious texts to Mark Meadows, President Trump’s Chief of Staff, as the armed rebellion raged out of control. She exhorted Meadows to remain loyal to President Trump, as the disgraced ex-president desperately railed against a fair election, one that he lost definitively. Since the Supreme Court will likely decide on the Trump presidential immunity question, Ginni’s involvement in the rebellion presents a conflict of interest problem for Justice Thomas, which should prompt an abrupt recusal.
Unfortunately, Justice Clarence Thomas is not an ethical civil servant, as a flurry of articles in the ProPublica publication has proven. Justice Thomas, a compromised and tragic figure, is the antithesis of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson when it comes to matters of integrity.
I am sure that Ketanji Brown Jackson, to ensure fairness and integrity, will recuse herself from more cases in the future, further upstaging the corrupt Justice Thomas. If Clarence Thomas — the longest-tenured Supreme Court Justice — were capable of learning and self-reflection, he would view Justice Jackson as a role model, someone to emulate. Nevertheless, Justice Clarence Thomas, age seventy-five, has repeatedly proven that he is a lost cause.
Thirty years from now, when we are considering the legacies of these two historical black justices, Ketanji Brown Jackson shall be universally admired, perched on a pedestal as Justice Thomas is despised, a lump of excretion that attracts a smattering of engorged, persistent death flies.