当最高法院大法官斯蒂芬·布雷耶即将退休的消息传来时，焦点几乎立即转移到了谁可能接替他的位置上，而备受关注的是大约20年前为布雷耶当牧师的克坦吉·布朗·杰克逊。
杰克逊毕业于哈佛法学院，现在是联邦上诉法院的法官，尽管她在专业和学术上获得了荣誉，但她认为努力工作是她一生中最重要的因素之一，是她走到今天的成就。
她出生于51年前的1970年，在华盛顿特区。她的父母都是公立学校的教师，在后民权时代从迈阿密搬到了华盛顿。
她叙述过在2017年的一次演讲中她的父母想为自己的非洲血统感到骄傲，就向当时在非洲和平队的阿姨要了一份非洲女孩的名单。
根据她的一个建议，杰克逊的父母给她取名为凯坦吉·奥尼卡，她说他们被告知翻译成“可爱的一个”
2017年，杰克逊，在佐治亚大学法学院的一次演讲中，透露了更多她个人的一面，不仅反映在她的法律生涯上，同时也反映在如何处理为人母的问题上。
她说:“事实上，现在我正处于人生的一个特殊阶段，因为我最重要的两个角色——一方面是美国地方法官，另一方面是十几岁女儿的母亲——不和谐地并列在一起，我几乎每天都会遭受鞭打。
杰克逊和她的丈夫帕特里克是一名医生，有两个女儿，在她讲述这个故事的时候，塔利娅16岁，莱拉12岁。在同一次谈话中，杰克逊说她的家庭价值观包括尊重每一个人，并尽最大努力做好每一件事。
“在我们的家庭中，我们有一句口头禅，强调优先考虑工作而不是玩耍是我们的首要原则之一，”杰克逊说。“正如女孩们会作证的那样，‘先做你需要做的事，再做你想做的事’是我们家经常重复的一句话。”
杰克逊目前在哥伦比亚特区巡回上诉法院任职，该法院被认为是仅次于最高法院的最重要的联邦法院。它对涉及国会和行政部门机构的案件拥有管辖权。
在她她目前职位的确认听证会共和党参议员追问她是否认为种族会在她的决策中起作用。
杰克逊说，当她考虑案件时，她是在看事实和法律。
“我有条不紊地有意抛开个人观点，任何其他不恰当的考虑，”她说。“我认为，种族将是那种不适合在案件评估中注入的东西。”
参议院最终让她成为十年来第一个被上诉法院确认的黑人女性。目前，只有六名黑人女性担任联邦上诉法院的法官。
乔·拜登总统周四表示，他致力于履行竞选承诺，提名第一位黑人女性进入最高法院——如果他选择她，这一承诺肯定会出现在确认听证会上。
她指出，她“相当肯定”她的祖先是她家两边的奴隶。
“这是这个国家的美丽和威严，一个像我这样出身的人可以找到自己的位置，”杰克逊在去年她的参议院确认听证会上说。“我非常感谢有这个机会以这种方式成为法律的一部分，我真的很感谢总统给我这个提名的荣誉。”
前总统巴拉克·奥巴马在2016年采访了杰克逊，要求最高法院填补空缺安东宁·斯卡利亚法官去世后的席位。
在此之前，杰克逊在佐治亚大学的演讲中说，她的小女儿莱拉来找她和她的丈夫，询问他们是否知道斯卡利亚法官已经去世，导致美国最高法院出现空缺。杰克逊说，莱拉的中学朋友决定她应该申请。
“进入最高法院并不是你申请的工作，”杰克逊说，她向莱拉解释道。“你只需要足够幸运，让总统在成千上万可能想做这份工作的人中找到你。”
杰克逊随后分享了她的女儿是如何决定给奥巴马总统写信的，告诉他考虑让她的母亲竞选最高法院法官。
她说，女儿手写的纸条上写着:“她坚定、诚实，从不违背对任何人的承诺，即使有其他她更愿意做的事情。她能展示承诺，忠诚，从不吹牛。”
也许这是真的，自从她的前老板，大法官布雷耶，以及她是否会很快取代他并创造历史的消息传出后，杰克逊没有公开发表评论。
Who is potential Supreme Court justice Ketanji Brown Jackson? And the inside story behind her name
When word came that Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer was retiring, the spotlight almost immediately shifted to who might replace him -- and getting a lot of attention has been Ketanji Brown Jackson, who clerked for Breyer about 20 years ago.
A Harvard Law School graduate, and now a federal appeals court judge, Jackson, despite her professional and academic accolades, considers hard work to be one of the most important factors, throughout her life, that got her to where she is today.
She was born 51 years ago, in 1970, in Washington, D.C. Her parents, both public school teachers, had moved to Washington from Miami in the post-civil rights era.
She has recountedin a 2017 speechthat her parents, wanting to show pride in their African ancestry, asked her aunt, who was then in the Peace Corps in Africa, for a list of African girl names.
Taking one of her suggestions, Jackson's parents named her Ketanji Onyika, which she said they were told translates to "lovely one."
In 2017, Jackson,in a lecture at the University of Georgia School of Law, revealed more of her personal side, reflecting not just on her legal career -- but on dealing with motherhood at the same time.
"Right now, in fact, I'm in that peculiar stage of life when I experience near-daily whiplash from the jarring juxtaposition of my two most significant roles: U.S. district judge on the one hand and mother of teenage daughters on the other," she said.
Jackson and her husband Patrick, a doctor, have two daughters, Talia who was 16 and Leila who was 12 years old at the time she told that story. During that same talk, Jackson said her family values include respecting everyone and making your best effort in everything you do.
"In our family, we have a mantra that emphasizes prioritization on work over play as one of our first principles," Jackson said. "As the girls would testify, 'do what you need to do before what you want to do' is a constant refrain in our house."
Jackson is currently serving on the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, considered the most important federal court next to the Supreme Court. It has jurisdiction over cases involving Congress and the executive branch agencies.
During herconfirmation hearing for her current position, Republican senators grilled her on whether she thought race would play a factor in her decision-making.
Jackson said when she considers cases, she is looking at the facts and the law.
"I'm methodically and intentionally setting aside personal views, any other inappropriate considerations," she said. "I would think that race would be the kind of thing that would be inappropriate to inject in an evaluation of a case."
The Senate eventually made her the first Black woman confirmed to an appellate court in a decade. Right now, there are only six Black women serving as judges on federal appeals courts.
President Joe Biden said Thursday he is committed to keeping his campaign promise to nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court -- and that pledge is bound to come up at confirmation hearings if he picks her.
She has noted she is "fairly certain" her ancestors were slaves on both sides of her family.
"It is the beauty and the majesty of this country, that someone who comes from a background like mine could find herself in this position," Jackson said during her Senate confirmation hearing last year. "I'm just enormously grateful to have this opportunity to be a part of the law in this way, and I'm truly thankful for the president giving me the honor of this nomination."
Former President Barack Obama interviewed Jackson in 2016 for the Supreme Court to fillJustice Antonin Scalia's seat after his death.
Before that, Jackson said during her speech at the University of Georgia, her youngest daughter, Leila, came to her and her husband and asked if they knew Justice Scalia had died, leading to a vacancy on the nation's highest court. Jackson said Leila's middle school friends decided she should apply.
"Getting to be on the Supreme Court isn't really a job you apply for," Jackson said she explained to Leila. "You just have to be lucky enough to have the president find you among the thousands of people who might want to do that job."
Jackson then shared how her daughter decided to write President Obama, telling him to consider her mom for the Supreme Court.
She said her daughter's handwritten note read, "she is determined, honest and never breaks a promise to anyone, even if there are other things she'd rather do. She can demonstrate commitment and is loyal and never brags."
Maybe true to that, Jackson has had no public comment since the news broke about her old boss, Justice Breyer, and whether she might soon replace him -- and make history.
