But as she starts her job, the court is in turmoil.
The justices work to maintain civility in public, but this term’s opinions revealed an underbelly of rage. Not only were the justices attacking the reasoning of their opponents in the case at hand, but they renewed grievances aired in previous opinions.
After her confirmation, in a stirring speech in the South Lawn in April, Jackson noted that in her family “it took just one generation to go from segregation to the Supreme Court of the United States.”
Jackson took the required two oaths Thursday. Chief Justice John Roberts administered the constitutional oath, and then Justice Stephen Breyer, whom Jackson is succeeding, administered the judicial oath in a ceremony in the West Conference Room before a small gathering of Jackson’s family.
“She has reached the apex of her profession, but she is walking into a role in which it is not clear that she will have much influence, joining co-workers who clearly have deteriorating relationships,” said one friend who asked for anonymity.
