Critics slam Ketanji Brown Jackson for queer-themed Broadway musical cameo

By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson testifies during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, March 22, 2022, in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson testifies during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, March 22, 2022, in Washington, D.C. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson drew scorn on social media for her debut last weekend in a queer-themed musical on Broadway in New York City.

Jackson appeared in a walk-on role Saturday night for one night only in "& Juliet," a musical that reimagines the Shakespeare play Romeo & Juliet as if Juliet had not killed herself over Romeo, but instead "[ditched] her famous ending for a fresh beginning and a second chance at life and love — her way," according to the musical's website.

Footage circulated on social media showing Jackson rehearsing for the show and being met with raucous applause when she made her appearance on stage, including from Oprah Winfrey's close friend Gayle King, who was in the audience.

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President Joe Biden nominated Jackson after having pledged during the 2020 presidential campaign to restrict his choice for a Supreme Court justice to black women.

Biden's pledge led to allegations that Jackson was chosen for her immutable characteristics instead of her competence, prompting some to peg her as a "DEI hire."

According to Jackson's 2024 memoir Lovely One, Jackson claimed that she harbored a dream of being the first black woman Supreme Court justice to appear on Broadway.

"I, a Miami girl from a modest background with an unabashed love of theatre, dreamed of one day ascending to the highest court in the land—and I had said so in one of my supplemental application essays," she wrote.

"I expressed that I wished to attend Harvard as I believed it might help me 'to fulfill my fantasy of becoming the first black, female Supreme Court justice to appear on a Broadway stage.'"

Some critics on social media suggested Jackson denigrated the dignity of the Supreme Court with her theatrical cameo.

"She should sing her verdicts," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted.

"That would be more reasonable than her not being able to define woman," conservative political activist Riley Gaines tweeted in response to Musk's tweet.

During her confirmation hearings, Jackson made headlines for her unwillingness to define what a woman is when Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., grilled her on the topic.

"I'm not a biologist," Jackson told Blackburn at the time regarding why she was unable to offer a definition of a woman.

Daily Wire host Ben Shapiro, who torched Jackson for being "a terrible justice" who "should not be on the Supreme Court," suggested that she made it to Broadway "not off of talent."

Conservative political commentator Mollie Hemingway penned an op-ed in The Federalist on Tuesday claiming that while Jackson is cavorting and being applauded on the Broadway stage, some of her conservative colleagues on the Supreme Court can barely leave their homes.

"Still, it’s nice that Jackson can appear on Broadway to rapturous applause from left-wing audiences. It’s a notable contrast to her conservative colleagues on the court, who remain under constant threats to their physical safety from left-wing activists," Hemingway wrote in part.

Jackson is not the first justice to make a cameo on stage. In 2016, at the age of 83, former Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg played a non-singing walk-on role in Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti's The Daughter of the Regiment at the Washington National Opera, according to NPR.

During the recent high-profile case of United States v. Skrmetti, which will determine if states have the constitutional right to prohibit sex change procedures for minors, Jackson drew scrutiny when she likened the issue of banning sex changes for minors to banning interracial marriage.

Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com

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