当...的时候凯坦吉·布朗·杰克逊上个月在美国最高法院，一些最响亮的欢呼来自过去30年来一直陪伴在杰克逊身边的三位女性。

尼娜·西蒙斯在接受美国广播公司采访时谈到了她和朋友们对大学室友杰克逊的提名的反应，她说:“人们尖叫、跳跃，非常兴奋。”。

西蒙斯和杰克逊的另一位室友丽莎·费尔法克斯(Lisa Fairfax)谈到拜登介绍杰克逊为被提名人的那一刻时说，“那一刻很激动，当她被介绍时，看着她实际上站在总统身后，然后看着她走向前。”

德鲁·安格雷尔/盖蒂图片社

Ketanji Brown Jackson，美国上诉法院Colu区巡回法官.

如果参议院批准她的提名，目前担任上诉法院法官的杰克逊将作为第一位黑人女性创造历史在国家最高法院任职。

在她创造历史的司法生涯中，费尔法克斯、西蒙斯和安托瓦内特·柯克利一直陪伴着她，他们都是杰克逊在哈佛大学的本科生，后来又是哈佛大学的法律系学生。

这三位女性都有自己的成就——西蒙斯是Washton & Gitto LLC的高级法律顾问;费尔法克斯是宾夕法尼亚大学法学院的总统法学教授;Coakley是东北大学法学院的法学教授，但是他们说他们很早就看到杰克逊会达到她职业的顶峰。

“我记得几年前，当我们在大学的房间里，我们的大学宿舍里，对基坦吉说，‘你将成为美国最高法院的第一位黑人女性。“你会成功的，”柯克利说。“那时候就很清楚。”

据她的朋友说，现年51岁的杰克逊是两个孩子的母亲，她以团结人们的能力而闻名。

西蒙斯回忆起2014年她被诊断出患有乳腺癌时杰克逊的支持时说:“科坦吉可以组织一些事情，把人们聚集在一起，她认识到每个人的优势，并确保你也认识到自己的优势。”。

西蒙斯说:“有一天我醒来，发现科坦吉和丽莎站在我的门口。“那段时间我没有告诉别人。我没有真正分享，她出现了，没有问任何问题，她只是出现了。”

这些昵称自己为“女士们”的朋友也回忆起杰克逊较轻松的一面，拜登将其描述为“一位非常合格的历史性被提名人”。

“我认为人们不知道她很有趣，也不知道她是一个了不起的讲故事者，”科克利说。

西蒙斯补充道，“她喜欢跳舞。当我们在大学和法学院的时候，我们会是第一批出去的。她会跳舞，玩得很开心。”

科克利、西蒙斯和费尔法克斯说，尽管法学院毕业后，他们的职业生涯将他们带到了不同的地方，但杰克逊让他们获得了成功。

费尔法克斯说:“我现在是一名法学教授，凯坦吉实际上帮助我实现了这一转变。”。“她真的让我觉得我可以做到，并在整个过程中支持我。”

“对于科坦吉来说，仅仅是她成功是不够的，”科克利补充道。“她也希望我们所有人都成功，所以我认为我们都从这种关系中受益，这种关系支撑了我们这么多年。”

Lifelong friends open up about Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson

WhenKetanji Brown Jacksonlast month to the U.S. Supreme Court, some of the loudest cheers came from a trio of women who have been by Jackson's side for the last 30 years.

"It was a lot of screaming and jumping and so excited," Nina Simmons told ABC News of the reaction she and her friends had to the nomination of Jackson, their college roommate.

Lisa Fairfax, another roommate of Simmons and Jackson, said of the exact moment Biden introduced Jackson as the nominee, "That moment was emotional, watching her actually stand behind the president when she was introduced and then watching her step forward."

If the Senate approves her nomination, Jackson, currently an appellate court judge, willmake history as the first Black womanto sit on the nation's high court.

By her side through her history-making judicial career have been Fairfax, Simmons and Antoinette Coakley, all of whom roomed with Jackson as undergraduate students at Harvard University, and then as law students, also at Harvard.

The three women are accomplished in their own right -- Simmons is senior counsel at Washton & Gitto LLC; Fairfax is the Presidential Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School; and Coakley is a professor of law at Northeastern School of Law -- but they said they saw early on that Jackson would reach the top of her profession.

"I remember years ago when we were in our college room, our college dorm, saying to Ketanji, 'You are going to be the first Black woman on the US Supreme Court. You are going to be it,'" said Coakley. "It was that clear back then."Jackson, now a 51-year-old mother of two, stood out for her ability to bring people together, according to her friends.

"Ketanji can organize something, bring people together and she recognizes the strength of everyone and makes sure that you recognize your strengths as well," said Simmons, who recalled Jackson's support when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014.

"One day I woke up and Ketanji and Lisa are at my door," said Simmons. "That was a time where I wasn't telling people. I wasn't really sharing it, and she showed up, didn't ask any questions, she just showed up."

The friends, who nicknamed themselves "the ladies," also recall a lighter side of Jackson, whom Biden described as "an exceptionally qualified and historic nominee."

"I think people don't know that she's funny, and that she's an amazing storyteller," Coakley said.

Added Simmons, "She loves to dance. [When] we were in college and law school, we'd be the first ones out there. She'd be dancing, having a good time."

And even as their careers took them to different places following law school, Coakley, Simmons and Fairfax said Jackson rooted them onto success.

"I'm now a law professor and Ketanji was actually instrumental in helping me make that transition," Fairfax said. "She really made me feel like I could do it, supported me through the process."

"For Ketanji, it was not sufficient just for her to be successful," added Coakley. "She wanted for all of us to be successful as well, and so we all benefited, I think, from that relationship and that has sustained us all these years."