Ketanji Brown Jackson, the newest justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, is set to break the dry spell of SCOTUS law school commencement speeches this year. Jackson is among a growing list of high-profile women addressing law graduates in 2022. She is scheduled to deliver remarks at the American University Washington College of Law on May 20 and at Boston University School of Law the following day.
Although not all law schools have announced their graduation speakers, Jackson appears to be the only justice from the bench making rounds on the law school commencement circuit, which has been relatively quiet in recent years. While the judges still participate in law school events and panel discussions, their commencement addresses have become less common. The late Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were frequent commencement speakers, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor delivered recorded remarks to Yale law graduates in 2021.
Ketanji Brown Jackson, the newest justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, is set to break a dry spell by delivering commencement speeches at American University Washington College of Law and Boston University School of Law. She is the only sitting justice slated to address law graduates this year, as the tradition has become less common recently. Law schools have secured an eclectic mix of speakers, many of them women. For instance, Harvard Law School graduates will hear from Michelle Yeoh during their class day ceremony. At the same time, Duke Law School has secured Apple general counsel Kate Adams, and the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School has women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred. New York Governor Kathy Hochul and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren are also set to speak at law school graduations. Boston University law dean Angela Onwuachi-Willig and American law dean Roger Fairfax were vocal supporters of Jackson’s nomination to the court. They helped organize letters urging the Senate to confirm her.
