Because the reporting across outlets hasn’t mentioned it I want to stress that Justice Jackson referenced the courageous & resolute stance of federal judges J. Shelly Wright in Louisiana and Frank Johnson in Alabama who issued school desegregation orders in the face of “Massive Resistance” to Brown.
— Sherrilyn Ifill (@sifill.bsky.social) May 2, 2025 at 10:43 AM
From the NyTimes, “Attacks on Judges Undermine Democracy, Warns Justice Jackson” [gift link]
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the Supreme Court’s newest member, denounced on Thursday what she described as “relentless attacks” on judges, and an environment of harassment that “ultimately risks undermining our Constitution and the rule of law.”
“ Across the nation, judges are facing increased threats of not only physical violence, but also professional retaliation just for doing our jobs,” said Justice Jackson, speaking at a conference for judges held in Puerto Rico. “And the attacks are not random. They seem designed to intimidate those of us who serve in this critical capacity.”
Justice Jackson did not mention President Trump by name nor cite any specific attacks against judges. However, her remarks came as Mr. Trump and his allies have repeatedly targeted judges who have blocked key pieces of his agenda, even calling for judges who have ruled against him to be impeached…
The forceful comments by Justice Jackson were rare for the justice. Since joining the court in 2022, she has focused many of her public appearances on telling the personal story of her rise to become the first Black woman on the Supreme Court.
One notable appearance came in 2023, when she spoke from the pulpit of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham less than three months after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in higher education and offered explicit nod to her own role in history.
But on Thursday, she opened her remarks to a ballroom full of judges, lawyers and jurists by saying that she wanted to address “the elephant in the room.”
She noted that individual district court judges — several of whom have been assigned major cases dealing with Mr. Trump’s actions and faced attacks for their work — face particular pressure in the legal system.
“It can sometimes take raw courage to remain steadfast in doing what the law requires,” she said.
Before her elevation to the appellate court and then the Supreme Court, Justice Jackson served on the district court bench in Washington with Judge James E. Boasberg, who has been a particular target of Mr. Trump’s ire because of his rulings seeking to block the deportation of Venezuelan migrants. The two were also neighbors.
Justice Jackson criticized the targeting of judges for doing their job, and said those attacks have a bigger, more structural impact for the democratic system.
“A society in which judges are routinely made to fear for their own safety or their own livelihood due to their decisions is one that has substantially departed from the norms of behavior that govern a democratic system,” said Justice Jackson, during her participation as keynote speaker at the First Circuit Judicial Conference. “Attacks on judicial independence is how countries that are not free, not fair, and not rule of law oriented, operate.”…
Justice Jackson’s remarks were greeted with a standing ovation.
Baud
Black ladies rock.
Glory b
@Baud: Why thank you!
Baud
@Glory b:
When I’m president, I’m putting you on the Court.
zhena gogolia
I’m surrounded by people who are panicking and afraid. One friend is planning to take a train to Canada to get vaccines (not sure how that’s going to work). Others are unable to get supplies for their businesses and are looking at failure.
ALL BECAUSE JOE BIDEN STUTTERED
Glory b
@Baud: It would be a privilege and an honor of the highest order.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: And he had a stiff gait because of an injured foot
mrmoshpotato
@zhena gogolia: And the racism and sexism of stupid children not voting for a highly qualified Black/Indian woman.
Another Scott
Thank you for highlighting Justice Jackson’s talk. It’s good that more people (including people like MVP Harris) are speaking out and getting more visibility.
Meanwhile, someone did a deep dive on Waltz’s TM SGNL stuff on his phone. Lots of breadcrumbs to trace, and yet another indication that 47’s people are deliberately flouting the rules and the laws about sensitive information.
Grr…
Worth a click.
(via https://mastodon.social/explore )
Best wishes,
Scott.
One of André Leon Talley's Fifty Pieces of Monogrammed Louis Vuitton Luggage
Courageous.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: They do indeed. They are the best of us
First finished page from a Japanese Garden Coloring Book, a detail from Kitagawa Utamaro’s work. I have been intimidated to touch this book so far, I have had it for about 2 years.
no body no name
@schrodingers_cat:
Well done! About a year ago I bought some Japanese paper and brush pens but never started. I should.
Jay
@zhena gogolia:
Other than the Covid vax, they are all OTC. You call or text a pharmacy, make an appointment, (that way they have it in stock or can order it in). You pay, get a receipt, make a claim on your health insurance when you are back in the US, if it’s covered.
schrodingers_cat
@no body no name: Thanks. Which brush pens did you get? I have Arteza’s real brush pens. but the original one are Zig Kuretake Brush pens.
Jackie
I’ve been off-line all day – has this been discussed?
Much, much more in the link.
Nukular Biskits
@Baud:
Concur. I have first hand experience. LOL.
Jay
@Jackie:
https://abovethelaw.com/2025/05/microsoft-boots-trump-capitulator-simpson-thacher-awards-business-to-jenner-block/
Melancholy Jaques
@Another Scott:
I would like to see a lot more of Harris speaking publicly. And not just pointing out Trump’s evils, but stating clearly what she would do instead, what Democrats would do. And why.
Jackie
@Jay:
It’s going to get interesting real soon… I’m happy FFOTUS is finally getting real pushback!
Bill Arnold
@Another Scott:
Thanks for posting that.
RepubAnon
If you know the lawyers will bend under pressure, they may not be effective advocates for you – especially if a friend of the administration is involved.
no body no name
@schrodingers_cat:
I’m familiar with Kuretake. I’m partial to Pentel and Akashiyas. Link to the store I use for my pens and pencils nerdery. They are not Amazon! Small business! You should give them money!
https://www.jetpens.com/Akashiya-Sai-Watercolor-Brush-Pen-30-Color-Set/pd/25436
I gave up on the Pentel water brushes. They are a PITA to maintain.
Dorothy A. Winsor
This is pretty inspiring too
Dorothy A. Winsor
That Maine governor is inspiring too
Dorothy A. Winsor
schrodingers_cat
@no body no name: I buy my supplies mostly from Blick and eBay and sometimes Amazon. I like JetPens YT channel but I haven’t yet bought anything from them yet.
Joy in FL
@no body no name: I love JetPens. I don’t order much now (I already have so many cool supplies), but I agree JetPens is a great company with a good website.
stinger
@schrodingers_cat: Very three-dimensional! Gorgeous!
chemiclord
With each day, I lose more and more patience with the “DO SOMETHING!” crowd, because it becomes increasingly clear that they don’t actually want anyone to do something, they want an excuse to sit on their ass and not do anything themselves.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Hahahaha.
no body no name
Looks like everyone into pens is into jetpens! They have way too much cool stuff and I keep buying things I don’t need but enjoy to use. Do I need fancy dry erase markers for the office? No. Do I buy them and doodle on the board? Yes.
prostratedragon
@schrodingers_cat: Lovely!
schrodingers_cat
@no body no name: I like Kuretake’s water brushes the best.
Splitting Image
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Good news.
Jay
They are redirecting all traffic headed to Canada through a single lane at the US CBS, inspecting and interrogating everybody
Normally you just bypass US CBS headed north.
prostratedragon
Commentary on both the Howell ruling and the Harvard tax status matter.
MagdaInBlack
@Jay: Well, well. Interesting.
sab
I just had two deaths in my family. Bad week. Ms Katengi Brown would have been very proud of either of them.
Peale
@Jay: I just flew air Canada to France last week. The connection from JFK to Toronto seemed ok, but the flight back from Montreal was practically empty.
LAC
@Melancholy Jaques: she did…voters did not “listen’, so let’s not keep expecting us to speak up. Just be glad when we do and leave it at that
daize
@schrodingers_cat: How lovely! Beautiful work!
schrodingers_cat
@daize:@prostratedragon: @stinger: Thanks!
frosty
@Jay: Well, shit, this might make it tougher to get to the Thousand Islands this summer.
BellyCat
So many criticisms of the US Supreme Court without differentiating between the majority and minority. It takes amazing courage to stand up to the dissembling of democracy. We should all be incredibly proud of the few progressives speaking out on the USSC. Kudos to Ketanji Brown Jackson and those of similar inclination.
chemiclord
@BellyCat: We should be, but we largely aren’t.
Instead we complain they aren’t doing enough, and that if they’d just use that one weird trick we pulled out of our asses that has no precedent or legal backing, Trump and his reactionary masses would have no choice but to… give up, I guess.
Or, we’re supposed behave like Republicans, but from the left, because ya know, there’s no way that could backfire or go badly!
Bupalos
Diversity really is our strength. In the “who goes nazi” game we all get to play-at gunpoint…. for stakes- the thought that our corridors of power are occupied by deep thinking and deep feeling human beings of diverse backgrounds gives me hope.
Bupalos
Help that make sense for me. Keep the fentanyl from getting out, lest it come back in??!
Bupalos
@Melancholy Jaques: Harris saved a dozen or two seats by being who she is, an unreconstructed overachiever. I can’t believe that the chaos of the campaign meant that politically she got saddled with Biden’s unpopularity and somehow found herself saying “nothing I can think of.”
I can’t think of an American politician that grew into the political demands of the moment like she did. Almost pulled that off.
Jay
@Bupalos:
They are looking for the Undocumented and Americans fleeing the US, and handing them over to ICE for their Concentration KKKamps.
Should have gotten out when you could.
Barry
@chemiclord: “Instead we complain they aren’t doing enough, and that if they’d just use that one weird trick we pulled out of our asses that has no precedent or legal backing, Trump and his reactionary masses would have no choice but to… give up, I guess.”
What I ant is for Trump to be treated like Biden.
For his lawyers to be treated like my lawyers would be.
etc.
Ramona
@Melancholy Jaques: I was disappointed beyond belief when she planned on attending the inauguration and cited that as my reason on the ActBlue donation cancellation page. I’d continued contributing even after the election in the foolish confidence that she’d lead a push against Trump.
Professor Bigfoot
@Jay: I did a lot of international business travel, and one difference between the Americans and elsewhere was that there was no passport check for leaving the country (of course, the airline wanted to be sure you’d be allowed in, but no government passport control on exit).
Gloria DryGarden
@Bupalos:
your best comment yet.
diversity is our strength. I’ll try to write a haiku around that