Jay-Z and Silk Sonic were among the music winners Thursday during the fourth night of the 53rd NAACP Image Awards non-televised award categories.
Hova and Jeymes Samuel won Outstanding Soundtrack for The Harder They Fall, and Silk Sonic, consisting of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, was honored for Outstanding Duo, Group or Collaboration.
Saweetie received the Outstanding New Artist award, and Anthony Hamilton was recognized as Outstanding Male Artist. Jazmine Sullivan won three awards: Outstanding Female Artist, Outstanding R&B Song for “Pick Up Your Feelings,” and Outstanding Album, for Heaux Tales.
As previously reported, Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, will receive the President’s Award, which is given to those who have dedicated their time to public service. They will appear during the televised portion on Saturday, February 26 at 8 p.m. ET on BET.
In other news, Mike Epps has been waiting for years to star in a Richard Pryor biopic, and now he’s portraying the iconic comedian in a new docuseries. The Dolemite Is My Name star appears as Pryor in the upcoming series Winning Time, about the Los Angeles Lakers’ NBA dominance in the 90s, which premieres March 26 on HBO
“It’s never easy to fill the shoes of our greats but I am humbled and honored to have gotten this opportunity,” Epps commented as he shared an Instagram photo from the set
Finally, Essence reports that Colin Kaepernick has launched a program to assist families who have experienced police-related deaths. “The Autopsy Initiative is one important step toward ensuring that family members have access to accurate and forensically verifiable information about the cause of death of their loved one in their time of need,” the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback said in a statemen
(WASHINGTON) — Amid pressure at home and abroad, the White House announced Friday that the U.S. will personally sanction Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, following in the footsteps of a European Union move to freeze their assets, as the West puts on a united front in the face of Russian aggression.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at an afternoon press briefing that President Joe Biden would join European allies, including the United Kingdom, in ordering direct sanctions on “President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov and members of the national security team” and said to expect more details later in the day.
Earlier Friday, Biden called a desperate but defiant President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Russian forces closed in on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and after he publicly pleaded with U.S. and European nations to do more to help, including imposing more sanctions.
Zelenskyy also called on Putin to negotiate, but Putin showed no interest in a diplomatic solution.
He appeared, instead, to call for a coup in Ukraine in a statement Friday, calling on Ukraine’s military to turn on Zelenskyy, who was elected democratically, and terming his government a “gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis that has settled in Kyiv and taken hostage the entire Ukrainian people.”
In an address to his people Friday morning, Zelenskyy called on Putin “to sit at the table for negotiations to stop people dying,” but did not order Ukrainian troops to stop fighting, telling them to “stand tough. You’re everything we have, you’re everything that is defending us.”
Lavrov said Friday that Russia will begin negotiations again once the “democratic order is restored” in Ukraine, suggesting that only once it has forced Ukraine’s government to surrender and conceded to demands, will it negotiate, with the Kremlin claiming Zelenskyy wants to discuss Ukraine’s “neutrality.”
Russia had demanded Ukraine agree to never join NATO before Putin invaded, which Zelenskyy would not agree to, though Zelenskyy wasn’t seemingly close called to NATO membership, at one point calling it a “dream” for Ukraine.
On Russia’s demand that Ukraine be barred from joining NATO, White House press secretary Jen Psaki has said repeatedly that “that is a decision for NATO to make.”
State Department spokesman Ned Price on Friday dismissed Russian talk of negotiations.
“Now, we see Moscow suggesting that diplomacy take place at the barrel of a gun, or as Moscow’s rockets, mortars, artillery, target the Ukrainian people. This is not real diplomacy. Those are not the conditions for real diplomacy,” he said. “If President Putin is serious about diplomacy, he knows what he can do. He should immediately stop the bombing campaign against civilians, order the withdrawal of his forces from Ukraine, and indicate very clearly — unambiguously to the world, that Moscow is prepared to de-escalate. We have not seen that yet.”
As Russian troops got ever closer to the capital, the Ukrainian president reportedly told European leaders in a call Thursday night, “This may be the last time you see me alive.”
“We have information the enemy as defined me as number one target and my family as a number two target,” he said in a video address to the nation Friday. “They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state.”
“I will stay in the capital,” Zelenskyy added. “My family is also in Ukraine.”
Even as Zelenskyy pleaded with Western allies to do more to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s attack, now in its second day, Biden has emphasized that sanctions on Russia will take time to have an impact, but he faced continuing questions as to why not sanction the Russian leader now.
Thousands of Ukrainians forced to flee their homes appear to be running out of time as Russian forces advance on the capital city Kyiv, and U.S. officials express concerns that Kyiv could fall to Russia within days.
Zelenskyy had urged allies including the U.S. to enact sanctions before Russia invaded, lamenting last week that the “system is slow and failing us time and again, because of arrogance and irresponsibility of countries on a global level” — but that, largely, did not happen.
The Biden administration, at first, said that its sanctions were meant to deter war, and once triggered, the deterrent effect would be lost — but under questioning from ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega Thursday, who noted that “sanctions clearly have not been enough to deter Vladimir Putin to this point,” Biden replied, “No one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening.”
However, Vice President Kamala Harris said on CBS Sunday that “the purpose of the sanctions has always been and continues to be deterrence,” echoing language from Secretary of State Antony Blinken, national security adviser Jake Sullivan and several other administration officials over several weeks — in sharp contrast to Biden’s claim.
The White House official in charge of crafting the sanctions against Russia, Daleep Singh, playing a kind of clean-up Thursday evening, said that the sanctions were never meant to deter war and laid out multiple reasons why the administration didn’t move preemptively.
“Had we unleashed our entire package of financial sanctions preemptively,” he said, “President Putin might have said, ‘Look, these people are not serious about diplomacy, they’re not engaging in a good faith effort to promote peace. Instead, they’re escalating.’ And that could provide a justification for him to escalate and invade.”
“Secondly, he could look at it as a sum cost. In other words, President Putin could think I’ve already paid the price, why don’t I take what I paid for, which is Ukraine’s freedom. So that’s what we wanted to avoid,” Singh added.
But even Democratic lawmakers are calling on Biden to do more to sanction Russia.
“There is more that we can and should do,” said Sen. Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “Congress and the Biden administration must not shy away from any options—including sanctioning the Russian Central Bank, removing Russian banks from the SWIFT [international banking] system, crippling Russia’s key industries, sanctioning Putin personally, and taking all steps to deprive Putin and his inner circle of their assets.”
Even with Biden set to sanction Putin on Friday, there are still major questions about what more the U.S. and Europe can do to not only punish Russia and Putin, but whether any of the sanctions can change his calculus — or make him retreat from the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
ABC News’ Luis Martinez, Patrick Reevell, Molly Nagle and Shannon Crawford contributed to this report.
AJR has canceled the band’s upcoming concert in Moscow in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We are sad to announce that we will be cancelling our upcoming show in Russia,” the brother trio tweeted Friday. “Thank you to our Russian fans who oppose their country’s unprovoked and criminal behavior.”
“Our hearts are with the people of Ukraine,” the group adds. “At this point, the best thing you can do is share ACCURATE info.”
The show was scheduled to take place October 22 at the 1930 Moscow venue.
It’s new music Friday, so let’s see who’s out with new tunes!
DNCE is back after a four-year hiatus, teaming with DJ Kygo for their new track, “Dancing Feet,” designed to make people want to dance along. DNCE will drop the track’s official music video on Monday.
Nessa Barrett released the powerful new single and music video for “dying on the inside,” in which the TikTok star calls out impossible beauty standards. Nessa, who struggles with an eating disorder, said she “couldn’t stop crying” when she first heard her new song and said it’s “one of the most honest songs that I’ve ever made.”
OneRepublic not only announced their first American tour in years, they also released their all-new single, “West Coast,” and its music video. The moody single features Ryan Tedder‘s signature soaring vocals as he sings about wanting to escape to Los Angeles and hide from his troubles — but he soon realizes he’s not the only one who ran away from their problems.
“abcdefu” singer GAYLE teamed with Justus Bennetts for his new single, “Don’t Trip.” The anthemic track is about the two rising above peer pressure and enjoying life as they want to live it. The duo also teamed for a music video that sees them chasing away customers at a diner so they can goof off uninterrupted.
It wasn’t surprising when Elton John‘s collaboration with pop star Dua Lipa, “Cold Heart (Pnau Remix),” hit number one in the U.K. — after all, both artists are British. But apparently, Australia loves them even more.
The song, which mashes up four of Elton’s previous songs, has just checked off its 10th non-consecutive week at number one on Australia’s ARIA Singles Chart, which is that country’s official song ranking.
“Cold Heart (Pnau Remix)” is now one of only four songs that have spent 10 weeks on top of the ARIA Singles Chart. The others include Whitney Houston‘s “I Will Always Love You,” LMFAO‘s “Party Rock Anthem” and Sandi Thom‘s “I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers in My Hair).”
Of course, “Cold Heart” has a long way to go before it sets any records Down Under: The longest-running song on the ARIA Singles chart is “Dance Money” by Tones and I, which was number one for 24 weeks.
Incidentally, the remix was created by the electronic dance duo Pnau, who happen to be Australian.
In the U.S., “Cold Heart” peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s the only song from this century that Elton is performing during his Farewell tour. Earlier this week, Elton performed at his “favorite venue in the world” — New York’s Madison Square Garden — for the last time. He’s played there more than 70 times.
More celebrities are coming forward to express their dismay over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began early Thursday morning local time.
Billie Eilish took to her Instagram story to share images of Ukrainians sheltering in subway stations as their cities are rocked by explosions and captioned it with two broken heart emojis. She also shared Unicef’s post that expressed, “The children of Ukraine need peace, desperately, now.”
Miley Cyrus was more forceful, writing on her story, “I am standing in solidarity with everyone in Ukraine who is affected by this attack and with our global community who is calling for an immediate end to this violence.” She also said she filmed the music video for “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart” in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.
Demi Lovato also took to their story to say they “Stand with Ukraine,” while Justin Bieber urged on his story to “Pray for Ukraine.”
Adam Lambert shared on his story an article from The Washington Post titled “Putin’s invasion of Ukraine echoes Hitler’s takeover of Czechoslovakia.”
Camila Cabello also took to Instagram to share a “great thought” from author Leah Thomas’s book The Intersectional Environmentalist that read, in part, “We did not wake up in a different world today — we woke up in the same world that continues to place profit over planet, destruction over humanity and violence over empathy and compassion. We need global systems change to end the continuous suffering.”
Shawn Mendesshared a poem by Ilya Kaminsky to his story, called We Lived Happily During the War. It reads in part, “And when they bombed other people’s houses, we protested but not enough, we opposed them but not enough.”
Andy Grammer also shared a snippet of The Promulgation of Universal Peace, which was written in 1912, to his story. He highlighted the section of the anxieties mothers feel about sending their beloved sons to war. “Having brought him through dangers and difficulties to the age of maturity, how agonizing then to sacrifice him upon the battlefield! Therefore, the mothers will not sanction war nor be satisfied with it,” it reads in part.
While Kelly Clarkson didn’t speak directly about the invasion of Ukraine, she chose to sing Nena‘s “99 Red Balloons” on her daily talk show on Friday. The 1983 track is considered an anti-war protest song.
(NEW YORK) — More than 70% of Americans should be able to remove their masks indoors, including inside schools, under new metrics outlined Friday the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that represent a seismic shift in how the public health agency plans to measure COVID risk.
Under the new metrics, more than half of U.S. counties, which make up about three-fourths of where Americans live, are now considered to be at “low” or “medium” risk because of a reduced number of new COVID hospitalizations and adequate hospital space. Accordingly, the CDC would no longer recommend that these communities insist on indoor masking.
In a press call with reporters, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky cautioned that COVID was unpredictable and that these conditions could change that put hospitals at risk of once again being overloaded.
“None of us know what the future holds for us and for this virus,” Walensky said. “And we need to be prepared and we need to be ready for whatever comes next. We want to give people a break from things like mask wearing when our levels are low, and then have the ability to reach for them again if things get worse in the future.”
While the updated guidance drops the recommendation of universal masking in schools, the CDC said it is still reviewing a federal requirement that individuals wear masks on public transportation, including on airplanes. Walensky said that a review of that requirement is ongoing and a decision will be made in the weeks ahead.
The new recommendations are a major change in how the federal government is approaching pandemic guidance. Under previous rules, the CDC primarily considered COVID case counts to determine risk. And because case counts remained high, the public health agency had stuck to its recommendation of indoor masking, including inside schools.
But that approach didn’t take into account that vaccinations are now widely available to people over age 5 and that most vaccinated people who tested positive during the omicron and delta waves experienced mostly mild symptoms that did not require hospitalization.
Accordingly, the CDC now says individuals at high-risk of COVID complications should consider taking precautions, such as avoiding crowds and wearing a high-quality mask. But for local health officials and school boards, the CDC suggests a community consider three factors: new COVID hospitalizations; hospital capacity; and new COVID cases. Taken together, an area to be “high,” “medium” or “low” risk.
Based on that risk level, which could fluctuate, a community could opt to remove mask recommendations indoors or pull back on other mitigation measures, such as surveillance testing. If those risk factors climbed, putting a community at “high” risk, the CDC recommends that a community urges its residents to return to masks and step up other precautions.
The CDC guidance is an acknowledgement that hospitalization rates in recent weeks have fallen dramatically and that highly vaccinated communities would be able to withstand an uptick in cases without overwhelming their local hospital systems.
When asked why it dropped its universal masking recommendation for schools, CDC said the lower risk of serious COVID illness with kids was a factor.
“We know that also because children are relatively at lower risk from severe illness that schools can be safe places for children. And so for that reason, we’re recommending that schools use the same guidance that we are recommending in general community settings, which is that we’re recommending people where a mask in high levels of COVID-19” risk, said Dr. Greta Massetti, a senior CDC official.
The new guidance recommends that people who are at high-risk of COVID complications should talk to their doctor about how to stay safe in a community that might have moderate risk levels. CDC has previously recommended wearing a high-quality mask, such as a tight-fitting N95 version and avoiding areas with low vaccination levels.
The updated guidance comes after weeks of pressure from governors and state officials who asked for a clear roadmap at the national level.
A majority of states have already announced plans to drop mask mandates. Still, the new benchmarks could be used by local leaders, school boards and public health officials who are facing vastly different versions of the pandemic even within the same state.
The guidance also is intended to give local officials a roadmap to re-imposing restrictions if another variant pops up, which health experts warn is a possibility.
While producers behind the 94th annual Academy Awards hope a triple bill of hosts — Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes, and Regina Hall — will goose viewer numbers, a new survey shows who plans to watch the ceremony.
A OnePoll survey of 1,000 people shows that 74% want to tune in this year, with 56% admitting they’re going to try to watch as many of the nominated films as they can before March 27, when the telecast airs live on ABC. Indeed, with so many nominated movies available on streaming services — including Spencer on Apple TV+, and tick…tick…BOOM! and The Power of the Dog on Netflix — it’s easier to be in the know than ever before.
Forty percent said the Oscars help “recognize filmmakers whose work wouldn’t otherwise be able to compete with billion-dollar blockbusters.”
On the other hand, 13% claim to be “actively disinterested” in the awards show, while 23% labeled the Academy Awards overrated.
The poll also asked what respondents thought were 2021’s biggest Oscar snubs — including Nicolas Cage in Pig,Lady Gaga in House of Gucci, and Jennifer Hudson in the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect.
And 39% of those polled said that, in spite of more nominations for people of color since the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences still “hasn’t done enough to recognize filmmakers from different viewpoints and backgrounds.”
It should be noted that this poll was conducted before the Academy’s controversial decision not to air several award wins live, including categories like Best Editing and Sound, so it’s not known if that would have dampened any of the enthusiasm from that 74%.
Survey questions, methodology and results have not been verified or endorsed by ABC News or The Walt Disney Company.
On Friday, Kanye West released 16 songs from his new Donda 2 album that were debuted at his “Donda Experience Performance” at LoanDepot Park in Miami on February 22. He titled this partial version of the album V2.22.22 Miami. It’s available exclusively through his Donda Stem Player, which costs $200.
Donda 2 was executive produced by Future and features Migos, DaBaby, Jack Harlow, Soulja Boy, Travis Scott, Don Toliver, Baby Keem, the late XXXTentacion, and more. It is unclear when the full album will be released. Among the 16 tracks is “City of Gods,” which Kanye performed in Miami with Alicia Keys and Fivio Foreign.
Tyga and Doja Cat get wild in their new “Freak Deaky” video. In the clip, we see Doja wearing an assortment of sexy lingerie, as Tyga speeds through a neon-lit city in a sports car. The duo began recording together in 2016 with “Juicy,” and this is their sixth collabo. Tyga tells Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1 that he loves working with the five-time American Music Award winner from Los Angeles.
“Me and her, the first collab that we ever, it never came out, it was a long time ago before she really blew up,” the “Rack City” rapper says. “And then ‘Juicy’ was the first real collab that the world seen and I felt like the chemistry was so good there. Working with her is real easy.”
Kodak Black has dropped his fourth studio album, Back for Everything, featuring his RIAA-certified Platinum hit “Super Gremlin.” The 19-track album features guest artist, Lil Durk, who joins Black on “Take You Back.”
Finally, Kehlani released “Little Story,” the second single from her upcoming third solo album, Blue Water Road. It’s the follow-up to “Altar,” which dropped in September 2021
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images/POOL
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Friday nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the U.S. Supreme Court, elevating an African American woman for the first time to a seat on the high court bench.
At a formal White House ceremony Friday afternoon, Biden said, “it is my honor to introduce to the country a daughter of former public school teachers, a proven consensus builder, an accomplished lawyer, a distinguished jurist, one of the most — on one of the nation’s most prestigious courts.”
“For too long our government, our courts haven’t looked like America,” he said.”And I believe it is time that we have a court that reflects the full talents and greatness of our nation with a nominee of extraordinary qualifications.”
Jackson, in turn, said she was “truly humbled” by “the extraordinary honor” and gave credit to “the grace of God” and her parents for bringing her to this historic moment.
At age 51, Jackson currently sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to which she was named by Biden and confirmed by the Senate last year with Republican support. The president called Jackson late Thursday to inform her of the decision, a source familiar with the conversation said.
Her nomination fulfills a promise Biden made during the 2020 presidential campaign ahead of the South Carolina primary when he relied heavily on support from the state’s Black voters.
It’s also the first opportunity for Biden, a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to help shape a Court that has grown sharply more conservative in recent years, even if his appointment will not alter the current ideological balance.
Jackson, a former clerk to retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, has more than eight years experience on the federal bench, following a path through the judiciary traveled by many nominees before her.
All but four justices appointed in the last 50 years have come from a federal appeals court, including three current justices – Brett Kavanaugh, John Roberts and Clarence Thomas – from the D.C. Circuit.
Born in D.C. but raised in Miami, Jackson comes from an elite legal pedigree as a graduate of Harvard Law School but also has experience representing everyday Americans in the legal system as a federal public defender.
“Public service is a core value in my family,” Judge Jackson testified last year.
She would be the first federal public defender to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court and the first justice since Thurgood Marshall to have criminal defense experience.
Jackson has been vetted and confirmed by the Senate three times – twice for appointments to the federal bench, a third time for a seat on the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Not since Justice Clarence Thomas was nominated in 1991 has a Supreme Court candidate been scrutinized by the Senate as many times.
“I think she’s qualified for the job. She has a different philosophy than I do, but it’s been that way the whole time,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said of Jackson last year. He was one of three GOP Senators, including Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, who voted to confirm Jackson to the U.S. Court of Appeals.
President Biden has long admired, respected and helped elevate Jackson, sources say. It was the Obama-Biden administration that first appointed her to the federal bench in 2013. Last year, Biden met one-on-one with Jackson at the White House before nominating her to the D.C. Circuit. The two met again in recent days, sources said.
The president is impressed by her “experience in roles at all levels of the justice system, her character and her legal brilliance,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said this month.
Jackson has won praise from grassroots progressive, civil rights and legal groups, particularly for her work as vice chair of the bipartisan U.S. Sentencing Commission between 2010 and 2014, when she played a key role in major criminal justice reforms.
Jackson joined a unanimous vote to reduce federal sentencing guidelines for some nonviolent drug offenders and make the changes retroactive – moves backed by members of both parties.
“In my view, that of a civil rights lawyer and advocate who is committed to bringing justice, respect, and fairness to this nation, and particularly to my community, that woman is Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson,” civil rights attorney Ben Crump told ABC News.
On the bench, her jurisprudence has widely been considered mainstream and measured, legal scholars say. She authored 600 opinions while on the U.S. District Court for D.C.; only 12 were reversed, according to data compiled by the Alliance for Justice, a progressive legal advocacy group.
One of her most high-profile decisions came in the 2019 case of former White House Counsel Don McGahn, who was contesting a congressional subpoena for testimony. Then-District Court Judge Jackson wrote a 118-page ruling ordering McGahn to testify, concluding that “presidents are not kings” and could not assert universal executive privilege over former aides.
Earlier this month, Judge Jackson published her first appeals court opinion – a unanimous decision in favor of a large union of federal government workers contesting new federal labor guidelines that would have made collective bargaining more difficult. Jackson concluded the changes were “arbitrary and capricious” in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.
Late last year, Judge Jackson joined a unanimous appeals court panel decision rejecting former President Donald Trump’s attempt to shield his records from review by the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. The decision recently affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Jackson’s former colleagues and associates describe her approach as “Breyer-esque,” qualities Biden has explicitly sought to replicate on the bench: moderate, pragmatic, and a consensus-builder.
“She believes the judiciary should be accessible and transparent,” said Sanchi Khare, who clerked for Judge Jackson in 2019. “She really feels that people who come to the court or who interact with the judicial system, whether they are civil or criminal parties, that they feel heard and that the court is considering their arguments.”
Rachel Barkow, an NYU law professor, former Harvard classmate of Jackson and former member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, predicted Jackson could help “dial down the temperature” around the Court if confirmed.
“She is not someone who is a firebrand off on her own, creating and doing new things which I don’t think she should be doing as a lower court judge,” Barkow told ABC. “I think she absolutely on the merits should be a person who appeals to people of all political stripes.”
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said this week that the nominee will be “respectfully treated and thoroughly vetted.” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Sunday that his party will not engage in “personal slime attacks” but will scrutinize the candidate’s record.
Democrats have the votes to confirm Jackson without Republican support, but President Biden has said he hopes to win over some members of the other party.
During her appeals court confirmation hearing last year, Republicans questioned Jackson on issues of race; ties to progressive legal groups; her rulings against the Trump administration; the impact of sentencing reductions; and her work as a public defender for Guantanamo detainees.
She could also face questions about her affiliation with Harvard University – both as an alumna and member Board of Overseers – ahead of a major lawsuit challenging the school’s use of race-based Affirmative Action in admissions that will be heard by the Supreme Court later this year.
The president’s allies on Capitol Hill and among Democratic grassroots groups have begun mobilizing to promote and defend the nominee, gearing up for a media blitz to mark both the historic nature of the nomination and counter expected Republican attacks, some of which have already been racially-charged.
The White House is expected to highlight Jackson’s personal story as the embodiment of the American Dream.
“Her Miami roots will afford her valuable perspective on the rights and lives of the people who come before the court,” members of the Cuban American Bar Association wrote in a letter to the president this month.
Jackson attended Miami-Dade public schools. Her mother was a public high school principal in the county, while her father was a teacher and later county school board attorney. Her younger brother – her only sibling – served in the military and did tours in combat. Two uncles have been law enforcement officers.
Her husband, Patrick Jackson, is a surgeon in the Washington, D.C., area, where together they have raised two daughters.
“It’s a story of someone who’s always been very hard working, who has not had things handed to her, who has worked for all the things that she’s achieved,” Barkow said.
