LOVELY ONE

The first Black female Supreme Court justice shares her story.

At first blush, the title of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Jackson’s memoir may seem like an exercise in extreme solipsism. But as every review and article and interview about this book will point out, the title is the English translation of the author’s first and middle names, Ketanji Onyika. That is merely the first captivating thing readers will learn about Jackson, who by any objective measure is one of the most interesting people to serve as a Supreme Court justice. Relatable is perhaps not an adjective one would associate with someone who not only is a member of the nation’s highest tribunal but also holds undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard, clerked for the man whom she would replace on the court, and performed as an improv comedian. But it fits, and Jackson is deftly equal to the task she set before herself in writing with candor about her ambition and inspirations, work-life balance (she is married to a surgeon who happens to be a descendant of a delegate to the Continental Congress), and perseverance in ignoring naysayers. Jackson’s memoir will inevitably be compared to books written by her colleagues on the court. It might not have the gripping narrative of Clarence Thomas’ My Grandfather’s Son, but it is far more dynamic than the prose of Sonia Sotomayor’s My Beloved World. Since everything in contemporary American life is politicized, the right may automatically dismiss Jackson’s memoir as DEI dreck from an activist judge, while those on the left may hail it as the greatest autobiography by an American public figure since Ulysses S. Grant’s. Neither is correct. What Jackson offers, however, is a well-written, intriguing, and quintessentially American story about a fascinating woman who is truly the embodiment of what is possible in the United States because of its freedoms and in spite of its flaws—lovely indeed.

A terrific memoir.