OCU Law Student Inspired By Historic Supreme Court Appointment

Newly-confirmed justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is breaking barriers as she joins the U.S. Supreme Court. Many Oklahomans watched history unfold.

Students and professors at the Oklahoma City University Law School said they see themselves when they look at Jackson.

Ta'Chelle Jones was one of many watching the first Black woman be appointed as an associate judge at the nation's highest court.

“Seeing Black women represented in some of the most powerful, influential roles that our country has for a person to hold was nothing short of inspiring,” Jones said.

“In my family, it took just one generation to go from segregation to the Supreme Court of the United States,” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said.

Jones said watching the confirmation hearings hit close to home. In moments, they were hard to watch, but she said Jackson's composure is what she'll never forget making her supremely qualified.

“I was surprised by the line of questioning, and I felt like that was really full display of what it's like to be a Black woman working in a professional setting," Jones said. "She smiled with such grace, and she had such a rapport about herself that was always calm."

Jones' professor said wherever she goes, she preaches your dreams can be your reality. This moment is living proof of that.

“Now, there are children who can look around and see an African American woman can be a Supreme Court justice,” Danne Johnson said.

“It felt like, 'I’m here and supposed to be here,' and not to be questioning whether or not myself or anyone who looks like me belongs in the hallways of a law school,” Jones said.

Jackson will join the Supreme Court this summer when Justice Stephen Breyer retires.