Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is expected to be confirmed by the Senate by the end of today, making her the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court. But the Senate still has two more votes to go.
Before all of this, though, Judge Jackson went through four days of intense Senate Judiciary Committee hearings that essentially had her, and her entire life, on display—outside of her professional qualifications (which are lengthy), people were super curious about her personal life. Judge Jackson gave viewers a peek into her day-to-day during the first day of the hearings when she introduced her husband, Dr. Patrick Graves Jackson.
“Speaking of unconditional love, I’d like to introduce you to my husband of 25 years, Dr. Patrick Jackson,” she said. “I have no doubt that without him by my side from the very beginning of this incredible professional journey, none of this would have been possible. We met in college more than three decades ago. Since then, he’s been the best husband, father, and friend that I could ever imagine. Patrick, I love you.” The super-sweet moment had Patrick wiping tears from his face.
So without further ado, here’s everything we know about Patrick and his adorable love story with Judge Jackson.
Patrick is a doctor
Patrick currently practices medicine at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and is a general surgeon. Most of his focus is on gastrointestinal conditions and procedures, which he’s been doing for more than 20 years. He graduated from Columbia University’s medical school in 1995, then went on to complete his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital.
He and Judge Jackson met in college
The couple both went to and graduated from Harvard College, where Patrick is a sixth-generation graduate. “Patrick is a quintessential ‘Boston Brahmin’—his family can be traced back to England before the Mayflower,” Ketanji said in 2017.
In that speech, Judge Jackson talked about Patrick being her first “serious boyfriend.” They dated for roughly six years before tying the knot in 1996. She described their coming together as “an unlikely pair in many respects” but said they “found each other” anyhow. Awww.
He’s a twin
Patrick has a twin brother named William, who essentially made their entire family related to former House Speaker Republican Paul Ryan. If you’re asking a resounding, “HOW???” allow me break it down: William is married to Paul Ryan’s sister-in-law (aka Paul’s wife’s sister). Yep!
Patrick and Ketanji have two children
Their daughters, Leila and Talia Jackson, are 17 and 21 years old, respectively. Both girls watched their mom during her first day of the hearings alongside their dad.
Leila once wrote a letter to former President Barack Obama advocating for her mom’s appointment to the SCOTUS opening after Judge Scalia’s death. “Dear Mr. President,” the note began. “She’s 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. I think she would make a great Supreme Court justice.” Leila was 11 at the time. So needless to say, their kiddos have always had their mom’s back!
But Patrick has always been his wife’s biggest fan
Back in their early careers, when Judge Jackson was working as a clerk and Patrick was in his residency, “he would often go to the courtroom after a long night on call to watch what was going on” because “he was so fascinated by his wife’s work,” according to NPR. Patrick looked so worn out from the long shifts that one day, the court’s security guard asked Judge Patti Saris, whom Ketanji worked for at the time, “Judge, would you like me to remove the homeless man in the back row?” Talk about love and dedication right there.
Christen A. Johnson is the lifestyle editor at Cosmopolitan where she covers health and wellness, money, career, home, pets, food, travel and more for print and digital. A true lifestyle generalist, Christen spends her day writing about the best throw pillows and champagne glasses one minute, to editing stories about yeast infections, toxic family members, and ethical pet products the next. Christen was previously on Cosmo's culture team, where she covered celebrity and entertainment news, awards shows, and interviewed some of your faves, like Megan thee Stallion and Queen Latifah. She wrote Cosmo’s first-ever digital cover story featuring Chlöe Bailey. Before joining the magazine, Christen spent the first four years of her career at the Chicago Tribune, starting out as a life and culture editorial assistant on the lifestyle, entertainment, and food & dining teams. Her last position at the newspaper was a features reporter for the Living section, where she specialized in health, pets, home, design, style, and relationship content. Several of her health and style stories made the legacy paper's front page. When Christen isn’t digging through antique stores, she's likely drooling over home renos on HGTV, asking her friends and family about their feelings, sharing her latest therapy revelation, redoing old workouts from her college basketball days, or trying to perfect her homemade buttermilk biscuit recipe. Follow her on Insta for BTS ~ editor life ~ tingz!
