二十多年后才成为乔·拜登总统的有力竞争者最高法院提名人年轻的凯坦吉·布朗·杰克森坐在大法官克拉伦斯·托马斯的对面，据说他对像他这样背景的人——和她的背景没什么不同——怎么会有如此保守的倾向感到困惑。

根据托马斯2007年的传记《极度不适:克拉伦斯·托马斯分裂的灵魂》，1999年至2000年担任斯蒂芬·布雷耶大法官秘书的杰克逊记得当时的想法是，“我不明白你”。"

“‘你听起来像我父母。你听起来像是和我一起长大的人。但他倾向于从种族隔离的南方的经历中吸取的教训似乎与我认识的每个人都不同书作者凯文·梅里达和迈克尔·弗莱彻说，当她和托马斯一起吃午餐时，杰克逊想了想。

杰克逊承认去年在美国上诉法院的听证会上为这本书做了一次采访。

据报道，她坦率的反映让我们得以一瞥她是如何看待托马斯极化图形她可能很快会成为她的同事，并说明了什么可能是一个引人注目的法院组成的新皱纹。

如果拜登如许多评论家所料，选择杰克逊担任这个角色，这将是第一次两个非洲裔美国人共享板凳。专家表示，51岁的杰克逊和73岁的托马斯之间的不和谐可能为探索种族身份、经历和期望提供了一个新的机会。

哈佛大学公共政策教授莉亚·莱特-里格说:“我们现在将实际上看到美国黑人政治思想多样性的至少一个层面——它将向全世界展示。”“这真的是一件大事。”

美国广播公司新闻采访的一些黑人法律学者指出，为什么杰克逊和其他与她有同样文化经历的美国黑人可能会对托马斯的保守司法哲学感到困惑，批评者说，这种哲学鼓励了剥夺少数群体权利的政策。

伊薇特·辛普森(Yvette Simpson)是美国广播公司(ABC)的新闻撰稿人，也是进步政治行动委员会“民主美国”(Democracy for America)的首席执行官，她将杰克逊对托马斯的观察描述为“一个试图理解一个在同一个世界长大、似乎在效仿完全不同的东西的人的诚实反映。”

专家指出，托马斯的背景和成长经历与塑造杰克逊的经历有相似之处。两人都在南方的中产阶级或工人阶级的黑人家庭中长大，就读于以白人为主的学校，包括常春藤盟校的法学院。

“杰克逊认出了克拉伦斯·托马斯……有种熟悉感，”赖特里格说。“他们有着非常相似的轨迹和非常相似的经历，然而，他们在政治和意识形态上却截然不同。”

作为最高法院任职时间最长的法官，托马斯近年来可能成为美国最引人注目的黑人保守派。众所周知，托马斯早年在法官席发表的评论很少，他自诩在政治指控案件中站在保守派一边的记录完美无瑕。在过去的几年里，他已经成为最健谈的法官之一，而且作为最高法院的高级法官，他被赋予了在口头辩论中提出第一个问题的特权。

数据显示，托马斯的观点与美国大部分黑人的投票行为相冲突。例如，在2020年总统选举中，拜登获得了92%的黑人选民支持——这一数字与此前的全国投票情绪一致。

但是黑人选民对民主党的压倒性支持“掩盖了一个更加复杂的故事”，赖特里格说。这皮尤研究中心发现2020年，四分之一的黑人民主党人认为他们的观点是保守的。

“有一种日常保守主义贯穿于黑人社区，”她说。"只是他们的保守主义很少转化为对共和党的党派支持。"

一名非裔美国人共和党高级官员告诉美国广播公司新闻，托马斯的保守倾向在他担任高等法院法官期间受到了不公平的审查，因为他违背了黑人的政治规范。

“有一种观点认为，如果一个黑人的思维模式、投票或性格不自由，那就是错误的。...这位不愿透露姓名的官员说:“如果克拉伦斯·托马斯发表意见，而它恰好是保守派，那么它就会自动被认为是反对黑人社区的，因为它是保守派，而不是自由派。”。

“当你的黑人身份仅仅因为你的政治归属而受到质疑时，这是一种可悲的状态，”这位官员继续说道，并补充说，托马斯的保守主义与他的价值观是一致的，这些价值观源于他在南部非洲裔美国人的成长经历。

约翰·艾米斯/美联社，档案

2020年2月11日，最高法院助理大法官克拉伦斯·托马斯参加了一场落成典礼。

专家说，性别也是一个因素。黑人社区的保守主义在黑人中更为普遍，投票显示黑人女性是所有人群中最稳定的民主党投票群体。专家称，最高法院中有一名黑人女性将标志着该委员会动态的显著转变。

进步培训团体Re:Power的执行董事卡伦迪·威廉姆斯(Karundi Williams)说:“这个国家黑人女性生活经历的差异真的很重要，值得注意。“这个人将带来一个不同的视角，她将通过这个视角来统治和推动我们的国家向前发展。我认为这一任命的意义就在于此。”

一些专家想知道，一名黑人女性出现在法庭上是否会改变托马斯对法律的坚定保守的解释——无论如何。作为长期以来法庭上唯一的黑人声音，托马斯可能热衷于培养一种独立性。

辛普森说:“当你是唯一一个时，它会对你有所影响——托马斯表现出了一种保护主义。”“我想知道，当一名黑人女性加入法院时，托马斯是否会坚持——或者她是否会让他挑战他对世界的思考方式。”

拜登表示，他最早将于上周开始面试即将到来的空缺的潜在候选人，但白宫尚未公布他的候选人名单的细节。拜登承诺在二月底宣布他的提名。

在一个采访本月早些时候，拜登在接受NBC新闻采访时表示，他已经对“大约四个人”进行了“深入调查”，这些人已经看过“彻底的背景调查”，因为他一直在关注复制退休的布雷耶的品质。

“我不想在这里做出意识形态的选择，”拜登说。“我正在寻找一个人来取代布雷耶法官，他具有与布雷耶法官相同的能力，具有开放的思想，理解宪法，以符合宪法主流解释的方式解释宪法。”

专家说，拜登选择的象征意义和历史性质将远远超过被提名人与托马斯的关系，尽管这可能令人信服。新的大法官不仅将打破一个重要的障碍，而且在托马斯作为唯一的黑人存在三十年后，一个更符合该群体压倒性观点的新声音将开创最高法院代表权的重要新时代。

“十年前，两个黑人同时出现在最高法院的想法是可笑的——那是不可能发生的，”赖特里格说。“现在这一切真的发生了，所以我们真的看到了(黑人政治思想的多样性)正在上演。”

Ketanji Brown Jackson's candid 2007 take on Justice Clarence Thomas: 'I don’t understand you'

More than two decades before becoming a top contender to be President Joe Biden'sSupreme Court nominee, a young Ketanji Brown Jackson sat across from Justice Clarence Thomas, reportedly perplexed by how someone of his background -- not so different from her own -- could have developed such a conservative bent.

"I don't understand you,'" Jackson, who clerked for Justice Stephen Breyer from 1999 to 2000, remembered thinking, according to a 2007 biography of Thomas, "Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas."

"'You sound like my parents. You sound like the people I grew up with.' But the lessons he tended to draw from the experiences of the segregated South seemed to be different than those of everybody I know," thebook, by authors Kevin Merida and Michael Fletcher, said Jackson thought as she and Thomas shared lunch.

Jackson acknowledged doing an interview for the book during her confirmation hearings last year for the U.S. Court of Appeals.

Her reported candid reflection offers a glimpse into how she perceived Thomas, apolarizing figurewho may soon be her colleague, and illustrates what could be a compelling new wrinkle to the court's makeup.

If Biden taps Jackson for the role, as many commentators expect, it will be the first time two African Americans share the bench. Experts say the dissonance between Jackson, 51, and Thomas, 73, may present a fresh opportunity to explore racial identity, experience and expectations.

"We're now going to actually see at least one layer of the diversity of Black political thought in the United States -- it's going to be on display for the world to see," said Leah Wright-Rigueur, a professor in public policy at Harvard University. "That's a really big deal."

Some Black legal scholars ABC News spoke to noted why Jackson and other Black Americans who share in her cultural experience might be puzzled by Thomas' conservative judicial philosophy, which critics say has encouraged policies that have disenfranchised minority communities.

Yvette Simpson, an ABC News contributor and CEO of Democracy for America, a progressive political action committee, characterized Jackson's observation of Thomas as "an honest reflection from someone who was trying to understand a man who grew up in one world and seems to be emulating something totally different."

Experts point out that Thomas' background and upbringing bears similarities to the one that molded Jackson. Both were raised in middle- or working-class Black families in the South and attended predominantly white institutions -- including Ivy League law schools.

"[Jackson] recognizes Clarence Thomas … there's a familiarity there," said Wright-Rigueur. "They have a very similar trajectory and very similar experiences, and yet, they come to such radically different spaces politically and ideologically."

As the court's longest-serving justice, Thomas has emerged in recent years as possibly the most visible Black conservative in the country. Notoriously sparing in his comments from the bench in his earlier years, Thomas boasts an unblemished record of siding with the conservative block in politically charged cases. In the past few years, he's become one of the most loquacious justices and, as the court's senior justice, is given the privilege of asking the first questions at oral arguments.

Data shows Thomas' views conflict with a large cross-section of Black voting behavior in America. In the 2020 presidential election, for example, Biden landed 92% support from Black voters -- a figure consistent with previous national voting sentiments.

But Black voters' overwhelming support for Democrats "obscures a much more complicated story," said Wright-Rigueur. ThePew Research Center foundin 2020 that a quarter of Black Democrats characterize their views as conservative.

"There's a kind of everyday conservatism that runs right through Black communities," she said. "It's just that their conservatism rarely translates into partisan support for the Republican Party."

A senior Republican Party official, who is African American, told ABC News that Thomas’ conservative disposition has been unfairly scrutinized during his time on the high court bench because he contradicts Black political norms.

"There is a notion out there that if a Black person's thought pattern, or vote, or disposition is not liberal, then it's wrong. ... If Clarence Thomas makes an opinion and it happens to be conservative, it is automatically thought to be against the Black community just because it's conservative and not liberal," the official, who declined to be named, said.

"It's a sad state when your Blackness is questioned just because of your political affiliation," the official continued, adding that Thomas' conservatism is consistent with his values, which are derived from his southern African-American upbringing.

Gender also plays a role, experts said. Conservatism in Black communities is more common in Black men,polling shows– Black women are the most consistent Democratic voting bloc of any demographic. Having a Black woman on the Supreme Court will mark a notable shift in the panel's dynamic, experts said.

"The differences in the lived experience of Black women in this country feels really significant or important to note," said Karundi Williams, executive director of Re:Power, a progressive training group. "This person will bring a different lens by which she will rule and advance our country forward. And I think that that's wrapped up in the significance of this appointment."

Some experts wondered whether the presence of a Black woman on the court might alter Thomas' staunchly conservative interpretation of the law -- one way or the other. As the lone Black voice on the court for so long, Thomas may have reveled in cultivating a streak of independence.

"When you're the only one, it does something to you -- there's a protectionism that Thomas has demonstrated," Simpson said. "I wonder if, when a Black woman joins the court, Thomas digs in -- or if she causes him to challenge the way he thinks about the world."

Biden has indicated that he would start interviewing prospective candidates for the upcoming vacancy as soon as last week, but the White House has yet to release details on his shortlist. Biden has pledged to announce his nomination by the end of February.

In aninterviewwith NBC News earlier this month, Biden said he's done a "deep dive" on "about four people" who have already seen "thorough background checks" as he keeps an eye on replicating the qualities of the retiring Breyer.

"I'm not looking to make an ideological choice here," Biden said. "I'm looking for someone to replace Judge Breyer with the same kind of capacity Judge Breyer had, with an open mind, who understands the Constitution, interprets it in a way that is consistent with the mainstream interpretation of the Constitution."

The symbolism and historic nature of Biden's choice will far outweigh the nominee's relationship with Thomas, compelling as it might be, experts said. Not only will the new justice break an important barrier, but after three decades of Thomas as the sole Black presence, a new voice more in line with the overwhelming views of that demographic will usher an important new era of representation on the court.

"Ten years ago, the idea of two Black people being on the on the Supreme Court at the same time was laughable -- it just wasn't going to happen," Wright-Rigueur said. "And now it's actually happening, so we actually get to see [the diversity of Black political thought] play out."