Having highlighted and (generally) praised Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s first appellate opinion last week, I’m sorry to see that her second appellate opinion reverts to form. I’ve offered some criticisms in this Twitter thread and won’t belabor them here. I’d think that any talented lawyer who undertakes to read her opinion will readily discern its middling quality.
If anyone has actually lauded Jackson’s writing overall, I’ve missed it. Instead, her defenders somehow find it objectionable that anyone is unfavorably comparing her writing to Leondra Kruger’s.
As I see it, Jackson’s basic problem is that she is not in command of her prose. She’s behind the wheel, so to speak, but apparently not paying careful attention to the road. Maybe she’ll get you to the right destination, but not without making wrong turns, drifting into the other lane, and causing delays. You’ll be eager to hitch a ride with someone else the next time.