CLEVELAND — Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearings in and of themselves are history making, but she has come to represent strength and patience to Black women who are working in or working toward a legal profession.
Many of us are learning Jackson's name for the first time this week, but her Supreme Court nomination comes after a long legal and judicial career. Less than 5% of American attorneys are Black, so both students and professors are seeing the power of representation.
"Having someone in a room, in a space that looks like you, it is like an indication and almost like a flag to the world like, 'Hey, you're welcome here,'" Victoria Bonds, a first-year law student at Case Western Reserve University, told 3News.
Bonds and third-year student Sierra Lipscomb have found representation at Case's program through professor Ayesha Bell Hardaway, who has signed a letter in support of Jackson's nomination. Hardaway came out of private practice to teach and wants all of her students to feel welcome as attorneys in a courtroom.
"Seeing Justice Brown Jackson in this spot will avoid young Black female lawyers from being mistaken as defendants, from being mistaken as court reporters, from being mistaken as bailiffs when they walk into this space," Hardaway said.
Bonds' young nieces had her smiling as they saw a Supreme Court nominee that looked like their aunt on TV. As Lipscomb finishes up her last year of school planning to go into business law, she's hopeful her 7-month-old daughter will only know a world where the top court in the land has someone that looks like her.
"These proceedings are so important, and having a judge that looks like you on the highest court in the land is so important," Lipscomb stated. "We don't just want representation for representation sake, but it opens up a door, a possibility for future people to follow her."