Ketanji Brown Jackson, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Will Serve as Commencement Speaker

Celebrated Jurist and Recent Supreme Court Appointee to Inspire Class of 2023 at WCL Commencement Ceremony on May 20

Ketanji Brown Jackson, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Dean Roger A. Fairfax, Jr. is thrilled to announce that The Honorable Ketanji Brown Jackson, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, will serve as the commencement speaker for the American University Washington College of Law on May 20!

"Justice Jackson's historic journey, demonstrated brilliance, and commitment to justice will surely inspire the Class of 2023!" Fairfax said. 

Ketanji Brown Jackson, Associate Justice, was born in Washington, D.C., on September 14, 1970. She married Patrick Jackson in 1996, and they have two daughters. She received an A.B., magna cum laude, from Harvard-Radcliffe College in 1992, and a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1996. She served as a law clerk for Judge Patti B. Saris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts from 1996 to 1997, Judge Bruce M. Selya of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit from 1997 to 1998, and Justice Stephen G. Breyer of the Supreme Court of the United States during the 1999 Term.

After three years in private practice, she worked as an attorney at the U.S. Sentencing Commission from 2003 to 2005. From 2005 to 2007, she served as an assistant federal public defender in Washington, D.C., and from 2007 to 2010, she was in private practice. She served as a Vice Chair and Commissioner on the U.S. Sentencing Commission from 2010 to 2014. In 2012, President Barack Obama nominated her to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where she served from 2013 to 2021. She was appointed to the Defender Services Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States in 2017, and the Supreme Court Fellows Commission in 2019. President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., appointed her to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2021 and then nominated her as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 2022. She took her seat on June 30, 2022.

For AUWCL commencement information click here.