Njeri Mathis Rutledge, a professor at South Texas College of Law Houston, was driving her 12-year-old daughter to school last Friday morning when Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson made history as the first Black woman to be nominated to the Supreme Court.
Rutledge's phone started pinging incessantly with the news. Overwhelmed with joy and pride, Rutledge said she "screamed and tried to fight back tears." Her car began to swerve.
"My daughter was like, 'You're going to have an accident,' so I had to get myself together," Rutledge told Insider with a laugh.
Rutledge hadn't gotten much sleep on Thursday night after a few of her close friends, who are in Jackson's inner circle, informed her that President Joe Biden had decided on a nominee, but wouldn't reveal who it was.
"I was just dying to finally know — did she get the nomination?" Rutledge told Insider.
More than 25 years ago, Rutledge graduated from Harvard Law School alongside Jackson. The two were enrolled in the same classes, both members of the Black Law Students Association, and lived in the same dormitory building.
"She was clearly brilliant, but she was also petite and sweet and down to earth in an environment surrounded by people who were pretty arrogant," Rutledge said. "What really stood out to me was that she was just a good person."
At the time, Black Americans were so underrepresented in positions of power that Rutledge never imagined her classmate would one day be considered for the highest court in the land.
"I wish I could say that I firmly believed one day it would happen," Rutledge said, "But this was before Barack Obama became president, and I never dreamt that a Black woman would be on the Supreme Court, or a Black man would be president one day, or a Kamala Harris would exist, a Black woman being vice president."
"If I had known this was going to happen, I would've taken a lot more pictures," she added.
Black women in the legal world celebrated Jackson's Supreme Court nomination, a milestone that they said marks significant progress for their representation in the legal field, but also for the country as a whole.
"It's a victory not just for Black Americans, but for all Americans," Sheila Boston, a partner at Arnold & Porter and president of the New York City Bar Association, told Insider. "It's another step towards embracing and bringing to fruition our national creed that all people are created equal and have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Jackson grew up in Miami, Florida, a product of public schools who attended Harvard for undergrad and law school and went on to build a decorated legal career. Her story is "the American story," Georgetown Law professor Tiffany Jeffers told Insider.
"It's the American dream of coming from moderate means as a child and working really hard and being successful and breaking into the top echelon of government and law," she said.
Beyond the excitement of the historic nomination, the Black female law students, law professors, lawyers and judges Insider spoke with stressed that Jackson's professional experience will be a tremendous addition to the bench. Her résumé boasts three federal clerkships, a stint as a public defender, as well as time on the US Sentencing Commission and in private practice. The 51-year-old currently serves on the powerful US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, a seat that Biden appointed her to less than a year ago. Before that, she was a federal district judge for seven years.
Black women in the legal field said they're hopeful the landmark moment will inspire Black girls to believe that they, too, can rise to the nation's top court.
"When I was in college," Rutledge said, "It never crossed my mind because it wasn't even a valid dream to have. Now, it's a valid dream."
'A lens of diversity'
In the federal judiciary's 233-year history, less than 2% of judges have been Black women, according to a biographical directory by the Federal Judicial Center, the federal courts' education and research branch.
Democratic presidents have appointed greater numbers of Black women to the federal courts than Republicans have. As a presidential candidate, Joe Biden promised to diversify the judiciary and pledged that, if elected, he'd seek to rectify the imbalances on the federal bench, and pick the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court.
The federal courts wield enormous power, ruling on issues that impact everyday life, from healthcare to immigration, constitutional rights, and more. Installing judges of diverse backgrounds can better ensure the legal system is working equitably for all Americans, Black women in the legal field told Insider.
"Diversity is very important. All of us have blind spots," said Judge Bernie Donald, who serves on the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. "People who have different experiences, people who come from different areas of the law, people of different genders and races — all of that helps us to bring those perspectives to the problems we're trying to solve and the decisions that we're trying to make."
Biden has appointed 11 Black women to the federal bench, a record that outpaces his recent predecessors so far in his tenure. President Donald Trump, who stacked the courts with mostly white judges, appointed just two Black women to the federal bench, a startling contrast to the 26 Black women appointed by President Barack Obama.
Last Friday, Biden fulfilled his campaign promise by announcing Jackson to succeed retiring Associate Justice Stephen Breyer. If confirmed, Jackson will bring a new angle to the Supreme Court that Jeffers called "a lens of diversity."
"We've never had the Constitution interpreted through the lens of a Black woman. It's not that the lens that a Black woman experiences the legal frame through is necessarily different. It just adds a more diverse experience to the makeup of the court," Jeffers said. "The people that are marginalized and on the sidelines and have been intentionally excluded for many years of our history, their voices aren't heard, and so that's what Judge Jackson will bring to the court."
Jackson will also make the court look more like the people it serves, and Black women in the law say that representation is important for young generations to build trust in the institution.
"It does matter when you see yourself reflected back to you in some of the most powerful venues in our democracy," said Osamudia James, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law, adding that Jackson's hair is also similarly styled to her own daughter's.
"I love that for my 12-year-old to see," James said. "Now when I tell her, 'You could be a Supreme Court justice,' she can look at the Supreme Court and think, 'Yes, I could, there's someone there who looks like me.'"
'The icing on the cake'
Black women in the legal world say Jackson's nomination is also a triumph because of her professional background: she'd be the first former public defender to sit on the bench. Some of Jackson's job involved representing Guantanamo Bay terrorism suspects and poor criminal defendants, experience that has drawn praise from progressives and concern from some conservatives.
Jackson has emphasized that her work "in the trenches," as she's described it, was an opportunity to "help people in need and to promote core constitutional values," living up to the American ideal engraved on the Supreme Court's pediment: equal justice under law.
"Her history as a defender, it's also just really reminding what noble work that is to ensure that access to justice is actually real and meaningful for everyone," Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women's Law Center, told Insider.
Raisa Reed, a law student at Stanford University and co-president of the school's Black Law Student Association, commended Jackson's criminal defense experience. Once she graduates next year, Reed hopes to become a public defender and emulate some of Jackson's career.
"Her appointment will mean a lot in terms of restoring some of the faith the American people have in the Supreme Court," Reed said, pointing to the historically low public approval ratings the court has recently faced.
Jackson is unlikely to dramatically change the court's approach to criminal justice because of its current 6-3 conservative tilt, though she will offer a new voice to an institution that's traditionally lacked diverse legal experience.
"We have an African-American woman with impeccable credentials and expertise and real, lived experiences," Deeohn Ferris, an environmental lawyer and president of the Institute for Sustainable Communities, told Insider. "The icing on the cake is she has lived understanding about what remedies are necessary to remove systemic, discriminatory, racial, gender, and economic barriers."
Jackson has received endorsements from across the ideological spectrum in the legal field. Influential progressive groups, such as Demand Justice, as well as high-profile conservatives, including retired federal judges J. Michael Luttig and Thomas B. Griffith, have backed her nomination.
"She's not going to do anything that's going to favor one side or the other," Rutledge said. "She doesn't approach problems with an agenda. She approaches them in terms of what is the right thing to do."
'KBJ' Barbie dolls
Jackson's confirmation is underway. She's met with both Republicans and Democrats this week. Her hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee start on March 21.
In recent years, those televised hearings, watched by millions of Americans, have descended into divisive and heated battles, often targeting the nominee's character and identity.
Black women in the legal world say they're anxious as Jackson enters the national spotlight. She's likely to face a barrage of bad-faith attacks "given the legacy of racism and sexism in the United States" coupled with "the pervasive, hostile rhetoric" of the right, Ferris said.
"Already we see her branded as a far-left pick, and it's early days," she added.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson faced swift backlash following his nightly show on Wednesday, during which he demanded Jackson reveal her score on the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) to determine whether "she's a once-in-a-generation legal talent."
"There is always a double standard for women of color. It's like, at what point is good enough, good enough? We have someone who graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School with honors," Rutledge told Insider. "We already know she was successful, so it's just ridiculous."
Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the top Democrat and Republican on the judiciary committee, signaled that they aim to avoid a rancorous set of hearings for Jackson's nomination. Durbin, the committee chair, told Insider he's "very concerned" about that prospect and hopes his colleagues won't disrespect Jackson.
Three Senate Republicans — Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — voted for Jackson's confirmation to her current spot on the DC circuit court. Some Republicans, though, have criticized Biden's vow to put a Black woman on the Supreme Court and his choice of Jackson. Still, the president is optimistic that Jackson could receive bipartisan support.
Black women in law are also confident that Jackson will overcome any tough blows thrown her way, and, ultimately, end up on the high court.
"Those attacks hurt, so I'm definitely praying for her, but I know she's strong enough to handle it," Rutledge said. "I'm looking forward to the Judge 'KBJ' Barbie dolls, and all that's going to come with celebrating this moment that will also inspire future generations."