Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has aligned herself with former First Lady Michelle Obama's critique of elite educational institutions, stating that such schools can do a disservice to students of color by isolating them.
During an appearance on Obama's podcast, Jackson agreed with Obama's sentiment that spreading students of color too thinly across a campus can lead to their isolation. "I think that’s absolutely right," Jackson said.
Jackson recounted her own experience at Harvard University, where she pursued both her undergraduate and law degrees. She noted that the presence of a substantial Black community on campus in the late 1980s was instrumental in her feeling a sense of belonging. "At the time that I went to Harvard, which, we’re contemporaries in terms of the timing of it, there was a sizable Black community on campus," Jackson stated. "And it was like, I found my people, in a sense."
She elaborated that this community, comprised of individuals with similar life experiences and backgrounds, allowed her to feel comfortable expressing her authentic self. Jackson shared that she lived with five other Black women in a group of six on campus, finding support within this larger collective.
Obama had previously articulated her view, saying, "You don’t do kids of color service by plucking them out and making them one of a few, and then scattering them about the campus."
Jackson, a 1992 Harvard College graduate, had previously recused herself from the Supreme Court's case concerning Harvard's admissions policies due to her service on the university's Board of Overseers. She did, however, participate in the related case involving the University of North Carolina, which, along with Harvard, had its race-conscious admissions programs struck down by the court in 2023.
In a dissent concerning the UNC case, Jackson warned that the majority opinion would exacerbate racial disparities. "No one benefits from ignorance," she wrote. "Although formal race-linked legal barriers are gone, race still matters to the lived experiences of all Americans in innumerable ways, and today’s ruling makes things worse, not better."
Reports indicate that Harvard's Black student enrollment has decreased in the classes admitted since the Supreme Court's ruling. For the Class of 2029, students identifying as Black constituted 11.5% of those who reported their race, a decrease from 14% in the Class of 2028 and 18% in the Class of 2027. Meanwhile, Asian American enrollment rose to 41% in the latest admitted class, while Hispanic enrollment fell to 11%.
The Justice Department initiated a lawsuit against Harvard in February, seeking applicant-level records to ascertain the university's compliance with the Supreme Court's affirmative-action ruling across its undergraduate, law, and medical schools. The department stated that the lawsuit aimed to obtain documents and did not allege new instances of discrimination. Harvard has since moved to dismiss the case, asserting that it altered its procedures immediately following the ruling and has produced extensive documentation to demonstrate its compliance.