Norton to Speak at Investiture of Only African American Woman on D.C.'s U.S. District Court

WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will speak today at 4:30 p.m., at the D.C. federal courthouse (333 Constitution Ave NW) for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's investiture as a U.S. district court judge in the District of Columbia. Jackson, who most recently served as Vice Chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, is the first African American woman to serve on the district court in D.C. in 32 years, and only the second to ever serve. Norton recommended her to President Obama.

"Ketanj Brown Jackson's wide-ranging experience and top-flight legal qualifications will make her a natural fit for our distinguished district court," said Norton.

Jackson, a graduate of Harvard-Radcliffe College and Harvard Law School, where she served as editor and supervising editor of the law review, clerked for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. After her clerkship, she worked for law firms in Boston and D.C. and in the Office of the Public Defender for the District of Columbia, representing indigent clients on their appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In 2010, the President nominated her to serve on the U.S. Sentencing Commission and the Senate confirmed her. This March, she was confirmed by the Senate to become a U.S. district court judge in the District.

President Obama, like President Clinton, granted Norton senatorial courtesy to recommend candidates for federal district court judges and other important federal law enforcement officials in the District. The Congresswoman recommended Jackson from a number of candidates screened by her 17-person Federal Law Enforcement Nominating Commission, chaired by Pauline Schneider, a former chair of the D.C. Bar and a partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.

Published: May 9, 2013