Supreme Court’s Jackson Says SCOTUS Prepared to Deal With Election

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson poses for an official portrait in Washington on Oct. 7, 2022. Alex Wong/Getty Images

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said in a new interview that the nation’s top court is prepared to deal with election-related cases as voters prepare to cast their votes.

When asked during a CBS interview whether she’s prepared for the election ending up before the Supreme Court, she said she’s “as prepared as anyone can be.”

“Let me ask you, are you prepared for all of the news cycles that you’re getting as a result of this election?” Jackson asked the interviewer.

When the interviewer responded, “No,” Jackson said, “No, exactly,” and laughed.

“I mean, I think there are legal issues that arise out of the political process. And so, the Supreme Court has to be prepared to respond if that should be necessary,” Jackson added.

Excerpts of the interview, Jackson’s first since joining the high court in 2022, were released by CBS on Aug. 27. A sneak peek of the interview was scheduled to air later Tuesday, and the full version was slated for Sept. 1.

In the wake of the 2020 election, challenges to the results were filed across the country. They were mostly dealt with on the local or state level, but a handful made it to the Supreme Court.

A majority of justices in February 2021 turned away cases challenging results in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, although Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch said the court should have heard two appeals challenging the Pennsylvania Supreme Court order that mandated election officials count mail-in ballots even if they were received up to three days after the election.

“We failed to settle this dispute before the election, and thus provide clear rules. Now we again fail to provide clear rules for future elections,” Thomas wrote in a dissent. “The decision to leave election law hidden beneath a shroud of doubt is baffling. By doing nothing, we invite further confusion and erosion of voter confidence.”

Justices also later rejected a petition challenging Arizona’s election results.

The Supreme Court has notably dealt with election cases over the years, including a 2000 ruling that stopped a recount in Florida, resulting in the state’s electoral votes going to then-presidential candidate George W. Bush.

Jackson is currently the only justice appointed by President Joe Biden, who prevailed over then-President Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

Jackson also told CBS that she stood by her dissent to the majority ruling in July that found presidents have immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts.

In her dissent, Jackson wrote, “The court has now declared for the first time in history that the most powerful official in the United States can, under circumstances yet to be fully determined, become a law unto himself.”

Jackson told the broadcaster, “I was concerned about a system that appeared to provide immunity for one individual under one set of circumstances, when we have a criminal justice system that had ordinarily treated everyone the same.”