Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson inspires Palm Beach County lawyers at Supreme Court admissions ceremony
Eight members of the Palm Beach County Sheree Davis Cunningham Black Women Lawyers Association were inducted into the Supreme Court of the United States Bar
Palm Beach County Sheree Davis Cunningham Black Women Lawyers Association Supreme Court of United States Bar inductees stand in front of the U.S. Supreme Court with sponsors and coordinator. From the left are Gloria Williams, Judge Shaniek Maynard, Latrice Dean, Jessica Hooper, SDCWLA President Salesia Smith-Gordon, Judge Lisette Reid, Coordinator Jeraldine Williams, Telsula Morgan, SDCBWLA Co-Sponsor Sandra Powery Moses, and Darlene Bell-Alexander.
Eight members of the Palm Beach County Sheree Davis Cunningham Black Women Lawyers Association (SDCBWLA) were recently honored with a surprise visit from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, just ahead of their formal induction into the Supreme Court of the United States Bar.
The unexpected meeting took place during a breakfast in the Supreme Court’s private dining room, setting the stage for a ceremony that celebrated both personal and professional milestones.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson greets SDCBWLA President, Attorney Salesia Smith-Gordon
SDCBWLA President Salesia Smith-Gordon, who was ceremonially admitted to practice before the en banc Court in 2004, served as a co-sponsor and movant. She collaborated for months with co-sponsor and SDCBWLA co-founder Sandra Powery Moses to ensure the occasion was memorable.
The organization’s Books & Convo Club, chaired by U.S. Magistrate Judge Shaniek Maynard, SDCBWLA’s judicial advisor, launched with the reading of “Lovely One” by Justice Jackson. Justice Jackson took time to engage in conversation, provide insight into the workings of the Court, and answer questions, several of which were based on information gleaned from her book. She also signed a number of books that the SDCBWLA members had brought with them. Guests of the inductees, including 99-year-old grandmother Janie Lowe and 7-year-old daughter Morgan Williams, watched in awe.
Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr., presiding over the en banc proceeding, administered the oath to the inductees after Smith-Gordon addressed the Court, read each name, and expressed her satisfaction that each possessed the necessary qualifications to be members of the SCOTUS Bar. Immediately following the ceremony, the group observed the oral arguments in Gutierrez v. Saenz, a Texas-based case where a death row inmate argued for the right to have DNA evidence prove his innocence.
The SCOTUS admissions event was designed as a long weekend celebration during Black History Month, with the inductees, their families, and friends in mind. In addition to the admissions ceremony, Smith-Gordon organized several optional activities for the group, including dining experiences, a Kennedy Center performance, a Jazz Club outing, a visit to the Library of Congress, a trip to the National Zoo, a tour of the National Portrait Gallery, and a visit to the U.S. Capitol. This year, attorneys and family members also had the opportunity to meet Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, whose district includes West Palm Beach.
As Black women lawyers make up less than 3% of all lawyers in the U.S. and even fewer are admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, Smith-Gordon said, “This rare admissions ceremony weekend provides an empowering celebration of excellence and achievement for others to follow.”
