Judge Ketanji B. Jackson of U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit is one the most prominent contenders for Justice Stephen Breyer’s replacement on the Supreme Court. ABC News reported that Judge Jackson spoke candidly about one of her future coworkers in an interview she did for the book. Supreme Discomfort: Clarence Thomas’s Divided SoulKevin Merida and Michael Fletcher,
The following is an excerpt from the ABC News Report:
More than two decades before becoming a top contender to be President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee, a young Ketanji Brown Jackson sat across from Justice Clarence Thomas, reportedly perplexed by how someone of his background — not so different from her own — could have developed such a conservative bent.
Jackson said, “I don’t understand you,” Jackson was a clerk for Justice Stephen Breyer between 1999 and 2000. According to Thomas’ 2007 biography, “Supreme Discomfort, The Divided Soul Of Clarence Thomas”, Jackson recalled thinking.
“You sound just like my parents. “You sound just like my parents. But the lessons he tended to draw from the experiences of the segregated South seemed to be different than those of everybody I know,” the book, by authors Kevin Merida and Michael Fletcher, said Jackson thought as she and Thomas shared lunch.