Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s daughter asked then-President Barack Obama to put her mom on the Supreme Court years before President Joe Biden would make that wish a reality.

Leila Jackson, then 11 years old, sent a handwritten letter to President Obama shortly after the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia asking him to consider her mother for the seat.

Judge Jackson told the story, and read the letter aloud, in a March 23, 2017 speech in Georgia:

When my youngest daughter came to us, maybe about three weeks or so after Justice Scalia passed and asked us very earnestly whether we had heard that Justice Scalia had died, and there was a vacancy on the Supreme Court.

We assured her that we had, and she said that some of her middle-school friends have been talking and they said to her, “You know, your mom’s a judge, she should really apply for that position.”

Now, Leila thought that that was a pretty good idea, and so she had come to tell me that I should submit an application for the open Supreme Court seat. Well, Patrick and I explained to her that getting to be on the Supreme Court isn’t really the kind of job that you apply for? You just have to be lucky enough to have the president find you among the thousands of people who might want to do that job.

To which Leila responded, “Well, if the president has to find you, I’m going to write him a letter to tell him who you are.”

She trotted off when she came back a little while later with the following handwritten note:

“Dear Mr. President, while you are considering judges to fill Justice Scalia’s seat on the Supreme Court, I would like to add my mother, Ketanji Brown Jackson of the District Court, to the list, I, her daughter, Leila Jackson of 11 years old, strongly believe that she would be an excellent fit for the position. She is determined, honest, and never breaks a promise to anyone, even if there are other things she’d rather do.

She can demonstrate commitment and is loyal and never brags.

I think she would make a great Supreme Court justice, even if the workload will be larger on the court, or if you have other nominees, please consider her aspects for the job. Thank you for listening. Leila Jackson.”

Unfortunately, President Obama went another way, and his nominee Merrick Garland never did get confirmed to the Supreme Court. Now, Garland is Biden’s attorney general, Judge Jackson is poised to become the first Black woman confirmed to the Supreme Court.

Watch above via University of Georgia School of Law.

The post WATCH: Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Daughter Asked Obama to Nominate Mom to Supreme Court — But He PIcked Merrick Garland Instead first appeared on Mediaite.

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