Ketanji Brown Jackson agrees with Michelle Obama on college diversity

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson backed Michelle Obama’s criticism of the segregation of students of color at top colleges during Wednesday’s episode of the former first lady’s podcast, conceding after Obama said the schools failed those students when they were under-represented on campus.

Jackson said Harvard’s Black community helped him feel at home. Jackson was an undergraduate there and received his law degree from Harvard; Obama also got his law degree there but he had a degree from Princeton.

“You don’t make children of color by taking them out and making them one of the few, and then spreading them around the campus,” Obama said.

“I think that’s fine,” Jackson said.

MICHELLE OBAMA ACCUSES MEDIA OF ISSUING FASHION WEAPONS TO ‘BREAK HER’ AS A CAMPAIGN THREAT

Jackson described feeling loved but lonely in high school before the conversation turned to college. He compared that distinction to the wealth he received after arriving at Harvard in the late 1980s.

“When I went to Harvard, we lived in the era, there was a large black community on campus,” Jackson said. “And it was like, I found my people, in a sense.”

Jackson said the students in that community have similar backgrounds and allow her to feel comfortable being herself. She said she lived with five other Black women and praised the wider community they found at the institution.

“People who have the same life experiences and backgrounds that I had, where you can feel completely comfortable being yourself,” Jackson said. “And my roommates and I… I lived with five other Black women, and there were six of us on campus, and we were within this great community, and it was just amazing.”

Jackson said the black community at Harvard University helped him feel he had found “my people.” (Essence Magazine)

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ZEROES IN ON UCLA FOR LEGAL DEI ADMISSIONS AS ELITE SCHOOL ENROLLMENT EXPANDS

Jackson, who graduated from Harvard College in 1992, withdrew from a Supreme Court case regarding his admission to Harvard because he had served on the university’s Board of Trustees. He was involved in a fellow University of North Carolina case when the court overturned the two schools’ race-based admissions programs in 2023.

Jackson joined Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s opposition as she filed a petition at UNC and issued an opinion warning that the majority’s decision would increase racial divisions.

“Nobody gains from ignorance,” Jackson wrote. “Even though legal barriers tied to race are gone, race still matters in the lives of all Americans in countless ways, and today’s decision makes things worse, not better.”

Jackson’s comments come as Harvard faces federal scrutiny over its compliance with the Supreme Court ruling. (Maxine Wallace/The Washington Post)

IS ‘TRAUMA SHORTHAND FOR BLACKNESS’ IN COLLEGE ADMISSIONS? REPORT SPARKS CONTROVERSY

Harvard’s black enrollment has declined in both admissions classes since the decision. Among students who reported their race, Black students accounted for 11.5% of the Class of 2029, down from 14% in the Class of 2028 and 18% in the Class of 2027. Asian American enrollment reached 41% in the latest class, while Hispanic enrollment dropped to 11%.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE NEWS AND CULTURE

Fox News Digital reported in February that the Justice Department subpoenaed Harvard for applicant-level records to test whether its undergraduate, law and medical schools were complying with the ruling. The department said the lawsuit sought documents and did not accuse Harvard of new discrimination.

“If Harvard has stopped discriminating, it should happily share the data needed to prove it,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in a Justice Department press release.

Harvard moved to dismiss the lawsuit in June, saying it changed its procedures immediately after the ruling, barred application reviewers from seeing information on the race check box and produced thousands of pages showing its relevance.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM

“Harvard is committed to following the law, including human rights laws regarding admissions and financial aid, and Harvard has complied and continues to comply with the law under the Students for Fair Admissions resolution,” Harvard said in a February statement to Fox News Digital.