Jackson Touts Court Diversity as Boost to Public Confidence (1)

A diverse federal judiciary helps instill public confidence in the rule of law, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said, as federal courts face an historic test of their authority and as a new presidential administration rolls back diversity efforts in government.

“To the extent that the law is governing behavior, and it is of the citizenry at large, it instills confidence in the rule of law when the people who are governed by it understand that the judiciary and the people who are interpreting it come from different walks of life,” Jackson said Thursday in Miami.

Jackson’s comments at an American Bar Association conference, came as the Trump administration moves aggressively to cut diversity initiatives across the federal government and as polls show confidence in the legal system sagging.

Jackson, the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, was appointed by President Joe Biden. He prioritized racial, gender, and professional diversity on the bench.

Roughly 60% of Biden judges are women and almost the same proportion are people of color, Federal Judicial Center data shows. President Donald Trump mainly appointed white males to the courts during his first term.

Court Orders

While Jackson didn’t reference the political tumult unfolding in Washington over diversity programs and legal battles around the country over White House policies, her remarks come amid recent concern about whether the Trump administration ultimately will abide by judicial orders over efforts to expand presidential authority and reshape government.

Although Trump has said he’d appeal adverse court decisions, recent statements from the administration’s cost-cutting leader, Elon Musk, and Vice President JD Vance, especially, have raised concern the administration might try to undercut the judiciary, and test the bounds of the Constitution.

Trump has issued a record number of executive actions since taking office, which in turn has sparked a flurry of litigation. Courts have issued orders to stop him from freezing federal funding, firing the heads of independent agencies, and limiting diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the federal government and beyond.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an emergency request to toss a temporary court order that forced the administration to pay $2 billion in federal foreign aid to contractors for work that’s already been completed.

“We don’t have anything to enforce our decisions,” Jackson said, invoking past comments from former Justice Stephen Breyer.

“We don’t have the power of the purse,” she said. “We don’t have an army. What we have is public confidence. And so things that we do, things that we can do to instill public confidence, are very important. Having a variety of people engaged in the activity of being judges is something that instills confidence.”

Jackson’s liberal colleagues on the Supreme Court also have recently addressed questions in public appearances about the court’s standing with the public and potential threats to the judiciary’s legitimacy. Justice Elena Kagan underscored the right of the public to disagree with Supreme Court decisions, while Justice Sonia Sotomayor raised concern with any attempt to disregard court orders, according to media reports.

Public Approval

Public approval of the Supreme Court has rebounded a bit since hitting historic lows after a draft of the court’s ultimate decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion was leaked to the press in 2022.

A Marquette Law School poll released in February reported that 51% of adults approve of the job the Supreme Court is doing, which is the highest it’s been since March 2022.

Public confidence in the nation’s judicial system as a whole, however, has plummeted over the past four years, reaching a record-low 35% in 2024, according to a December Gallup poll.