A Justice Jackson Will Need to Embrace New Role: Dissenter (1)

Ketanji Brown Jackson would bring experience to the U.S. Supreme Court as varied as Big Law attorney, public defender, and federal judge, but the makeup of the current court could force her into a new role: dissenter.

Jackson spent years as a trial judge, meaning for most of her judicial career she worked alone and her opinions were always the majority. In her short stint as an appellate judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, she’s produced two written opinions and no dissents.

If confirmed as successor to Justice Stephen Breyer, Jackson would join a court ...