The Boston Globe found the most Boston way ever to celebrate Justice Brown Jackson’s installation, which reminded me I never got around to sharing these happy stories…
… “On the 50th anniversary of Shirley Chisholm’s bold run for president, we have a Black woman on a Supreme Court,” said Carr, who’s president, chief executive and co-founder of Higher Heights. “We didn’t think there would be an opening in 2022. We’re certainly seeing the fruits of [Chisholm’s] labor today.”…
For liberal organizers like Carr, Jackson’s ascent to power comes during a terrifying time.
But “we needed this happy today,” Carr added. “I’m excited to be able to see and hear the excitement [online]. Sometime between today and tomorrow, I’ll be rocking a Ketanji Brown Jackson poster, I’ll be posting a Ketanji Brown Jackson photo.”…
“This wonderful thing happened today. We can certainly pause to celebrate,” MSNBC host Joy-Ann Reid wrote on Twitter.
“Congratulations to Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson,” Sherrilyn Iffil, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, tweeted…
Her favorite Maya Angelou quote also comes to mind, she said: “I come as one, but I stand as 10,000.”
Jackson, in standing with her hand up today, “may be coming as one, but she stands as 10,000,” Carr said. “And I think that sums up the moment today for me.”
In many ways, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has followed a trajectory similar to those of the court’s other members.
But she brings a unique set of experiences to the court, having served as a federal district judge and public defender. https://t.co/JdHcF5WpLD pic.twitter.com/hjNekeQNBr
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 30, 2022
Another good, uplifting interview, which I don’t think I got to post before The Great Interruption:
Ketanji Brown Jackson on being a ‘first’ and why she loves ‘Survivor’ https://t.co/9n9KoJsEkX
— Ellevate Network (@EllevateNtwk) May 23, 2022
Ketanji Brown Jackson, a former public defender who rose to become a judge on a powerful federal appeals court, made history Thursday as the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court. https://t.co/EB8pGDbVj6
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) July 1, 2022
Even Mr. Mystal got some joy from the occasion, imagining himself as a free-speech martyr…
zhena gogolia
Thank you! I wish the Supreme Court consisted entirely of Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson.
SiubhanDuinne
Even two weeks after the fact, this is a very welcome post! Thanks, AL!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
is it just me or did that simple typo (of for if) in PromoCode Rudy’s tweet derail anyone else?
otherwise: Yes
sab
@zhena gogolia: If we work hard now that will be possible some day. When I graduated law school in 1980 we had had no women justices. And the first was Sandra Day OConnor. Now we have several, and only one of them is horrible.
opiejeanne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: It did for me.
Jerzy Russian
Being unaware of All Internet Traditions, I don’t immediately recall who Elie Mystal is/was. Should I care about him/her at the moment?
Baud
@sab:
Plus, the conservatives have now made it a lot easier to overrule precedents we don’t like.
Villago Delenda Est
That “public defender” part drives reactionary yahoos totally nuts. Good on Justice Jackson.
Starfish
Why is Islamophobia an acceptable response to white Christian extremism? The oppressive government we are experiencing is in fact here, and we can’t really address it so long as we keep othering it like this.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: Right!
zhena gogolia
@Starfish: I have the same problem with this.
ETA: I can see that it’s a parody of THEIR Islamophobia, but that’s probably too subtle for a lot of people.
pluky
@Jerzy Russian:
He’s basically one of the good guys, but with a penchant to be somewhat histrionic.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elie_Mystal
Alison Rose
@zhena gogolia: Maybe we could clone each of them twice.
kindness
Such a nice story. Over at LG&M they’ve been shredding Amy C Barrett, and as much fun as it is to see a Gilead/Federalist Society member of the court shredded, seeing the whole of the picture is maddening.
Baud
@Starfish:
The Taliban doesn’t represent all of Islam. They do represent religious fundamentalism.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: But it’s a different religion than the one that’s oppressing us. (said as a Christian myself)
Immanentize
@Starfish: See? BOTH SIDES! Do you really give a shit about this? Or are you just groove ball signalling? If you really do care, what are you doing in the real world to address this issue?
@Baud:
And a particular virulent, anti-woman version at that.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
The oppression of women isn’t only a domestic issue.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Would you feel differently if we compared the GOP to Orban. Would that be unfair to Hungarians?
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Starfish:
Because Americans are a stupid lot when it comes to history, and portraying the regime of the unelected Supreme Council of Six as Girolamo Savonarola, Jean Calvin, Oliver Cromwell, Billy Sunday, Charles Coughlin and Carrie Nation would sail right over their fat, stupid, bigoted heads.
”Why would I hate Cromwell? He facilitated things for those nice Puritans and wanted things to be just like England in North American colonies…..”
Villago Delenda Est
@Baud: Ding ding ding ding ding. Fundies of all faiths are scum, because they want to impose their particular view of the universe on everyone, without regard to empirical evidence. Just what the voices in their heads are telling them.
sab
@Baud: “Overrule” is a stretch. “Ignore” “Ridicule” are maybe more accurate.
Great for rule of law. ” Stare decisis” is Latin and therefore foreign and therefore beneath contempt.
Immanentize
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
Adding, although the Taliban drapes itself in a form of Islam, it is really a militia/political movement in one country.
To link the Taliban to Islam generally is like saying my opposition to Likud’s West Bank policies makes me an anti-Semite. They are both categorical errors. Promoted, usually, by the supporters of the subset category.
phdesmond
genealogy is fascinating. i’ve watched every episode of Henry Louis Gates, Jr.,’s PBS show Finding Your Roots. is that Bostonian of me? i’ve only lived here 55 years or so.
sab
@Immanentize: A lot like our RWNJs being considered typical Christians, even by the jackaltariot. I am a Christian, following what I learned in grade school church, and these peoples’ hateful spewing bear no relation to what I was taught. And I was taught in the Jim Crow South.
Immanentize
@sab: I agree. Unfortunately, the “Christianity without Christ” seems to be making a run as the dominant version of that religion in this country. The lines are getting blurry.
phdesmond
@Jerzy Russian:
Elie Mystal appears a fair amount on evening msnbc programs as a commenter, and he regularly writes for The Nation. his bio there reads,
Sister Golden Bear
@Immanentize:
I’ll also note the referring to the Christo-fascists as the Taliban is invoking scary brown people, as well as blame shifting “no true Christian” distancing.
Christianity has its own long history of fundamental and persecuting perceived sinners. No need to bring in other religions.
Plus it also lets non-fundamentalist Christians off the hook. Yes, the Christo-fascists are under the banner to Christianity no matter how un-Christian they actually are. If non-fundamentalist Christians don’t want them to be, then you need to be a lot more vocal and active in confronting them.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: There isn’t a culture-wide phenomenon of hatred of Hungarians.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
The most likely people to have a culture wide hatred of Muslims are the Christian fascists though.
Brachiator
Coming late to the thread. Congratulations again to Justice Jackson.
I love the chart showing Justice Jackson’s background compared to other justices.
And I am still having conversations with relatives who say that voting doesn’t matter because the Democrats never accomplish anything.
James E Powell
@Baud:
We do need another set of metaphors though. The Nazi thing is played out and however apt it was American Taliban never caught on.
Baud
@James E Powell:
That’s fair. I’m just saying this comparison isn’t unfair or offensive to any innocent person.
FWIW, I would prefer we compare them to us, rather than compare them to other versions of them.
Urban Suburbanite
One of the strengths of the current Supreme Court majority is that they come from pretty much the same background – from law school to clerking, they’ve been in the same cosseted, incestuous circle most of their existence. Leonard Leo’s operation has put a lot of work into creating that environment. And Jackson is most definitely not one of them.
Brachiator
@Urban Suburbanite:
Justice Jackson went to Harvard University and Harvard Law. She clerked for a District Court Judge and later for Supreme Court Justice Breyer.
And yet, I don’t expect her to fall in line with the majority.
ShadeTail
All of you people whinging about Elie Mystal, tell me: Where’s the lie?
That tweet of his above was clearly meant largely as satirical hyperbole, so it’s pretty fucking disingenuous of you lot to treat it like it’s a 100% serious policy statement and use that as an excuse to dismiss him. And you can’t honestly deny the facts that underlie it. The Nazis who call themselves the GOP are quite blatantly suppressing the vote, turning anyone with a uterus into a brood mare for the state, and saying quite bluntly that they’re going for contraception and gay marriage next. They’re even muttering about interracial marriage and Brown v Board of Education. And they’re doing their best to put this fascism into law and throw people in jail for even the appearance of violating it.
So tell me for real, where’s the lie? How is Elie Mystal wrong?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
WhY aRe YoU bEiNg MeAn To My ImAgInArY fRiEnD fRoM tHe TeEvEe!?
Brachiator
@ShadeTail:
I don’t know anything about Mystal and don’t much follow pundits and op-ed columnists. A nice bit of satire and hyperbole. But you can’t go looking for truth in hypotheticals.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Ian R
“Most Boston way ever”? Nothing in the article involved Dunkin Donuts or terrible drivers.
pluky
@Ian R:
or bar crawls on Dot Ave.
SamIAm
@zhena gogolia:
Shrink the Court!