Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson set to publish ‘Lovely One’ memoir
By Devan Cole, CNN
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is planning to release a memoir on her life titled “Lovely One,” the book’s publisher announced Thursday.
In the memoir, Jackson, who made history last year as the first Black woman to join the court, will chart her personal history, from her upbringing in Miami and her years at Harvard to her early legal career, marriage and motherhood, and ascension to the Supreme Court, according to a statement from Random House.
“Mine has been an unlikely journey,” Jackson said in the statement. “This memoir marries the public record of my life with what is less known. It will be a transparent accounting of what it takes to rise through the ranks of the legal profession, especially as a woman of color with an unusual name and as a mother and a wife striving to reconcile the demands of a high-profile career with the private needs of my loved ones.”
The memoir will be Jackson’s first book. Random House did not say in its statement when the memoir would be released nor did it note how much the justice would make from her book deal with the publisher.
Random House did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for more details on its book deal with Jackson.
The Associated Press first reported Jackson’s book plans.
It’s not uncommon for Supreme Court members to secure lucrative book deals, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett having received a $425,000 payment from the literary agency Javelin Group to pen her own book, according to financial disclosures released last year. Barrett’s book has not yet been released.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, meanwhile, authored a broad-audience book called “A Republic, If You Can Keep It” in 2019. He received $250,000 from the publishing company HarperCollins in 2021, according to his 2022 financial disclosures. The income is listed as “book royalties.” Politico reported last year that the amount was an advance for a new book about judicial and regulatory policy.
And Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s disclosures last year revealed she had received more than $115,000 in book royalties in 2021 from Penguin Random House, which has published several children’s books by the justice
Of her forthcoming book, Jackson said in her statement Thursday: “My hope is that the fullness of my journey as a daughter, sister, wife, mother, litigator, and friend will stand as a testament for young women, people of color, and dreamers everywhere … especially those who nourish outsized ambitions and believe in the possibility of achieving them.”
Jackson was sworn in as a justice on June 30, 2022. President Joe Biden nominated her earlier that year to replace Justice Stephen Breyer, who announced his retirement from the bench after serving for nearly three decades.
This story has been updated with additional details.
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CNN’s Ariane de Vogue and Tierney Sneed contributed to this report.
