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At a bar association event in Indiana, the justice told those gathered that she is focused on drawing attention to what is happening to the government.
July 10, 2025, 3:58 p.m. ET
The question to the Supreme Court justice seemed lighthearted, following inquiries about her favorite song and what book she is reading.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s answer was deeply serious.
When a federal judge asked the justice what kept her up at night, Justice Jackson paused, then said, “I would say the state of our democracy.”
The crowd was quiet for a moment, then burst into applause.
“I’m really very interested in getting people to focus and to invest and to pay attention to what is happening in our country and in our government,” she said at an event on Thursday for the Indianapolis Bar Association.
Justice Jackson did not elaborate on what she meant or detail specific concerns. Still, it was striking for a sitting Supreme Court justice to go out of her way to publicly express concern about the state of the country.
Although Justice Jackson, 54, is the court’s most junior member, she has not hesitated to use her voice, writing an unusually large number of concurring and dissenting opinions during the court’s most recent term, which ended in late June.
She has also written sharp criticisms of her colleagues’ recent emergency rulings that have given President Donald J. Trump broad powers to reshape the federal government; deport immigrants to third countries, in some cases war-torn nations; and to end protections for hundreds of thousands of migrants. Together, her writings and her public remarks suggest that the court’s newest member is growing increasingly dissatisfied with the direction of the country.
