Mercy hosts justice who made history

Inside the rotunda at Mercy University, surrounded by portraits of the school’s past presidents, the first Black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court was the center of attention on the afternoon of Sunday, Dec. 15.

By 2 p.m., hundreds of people had filled the rotunda for a program with 54-year-old Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was appointed the 116th justice of the court in 2022. The court was established in 1789. 

Most attendees, who had to register in advance, received signed copies of Jackson’s memoir, “Lovely One,” which Random House released on Sept. 3, and which the New York Times Book Review listed among its “100 Notable Books of 2024.” Following a welcome by Mercy president Susan Parish, Jackson read from the preface of the 432-page book, the title of which is the meaning of her first and middle names (Ketanji Onyika).