Justice Jackson says she might have left legal career had she known the challenges of caring for daughter

As she struggled to care for a child with special needs, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said in a wide-ranging interview with CNN on Friday that she felt “inadequate” at the time and might have given up her demanding legal career if she had initially understood the extent of her daughter’s challenges.

As she struggled to care for a child with special needs, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said in a wide-ranging interview with CNN on Friday that she felt “inadequate” at the time and might have given up her demanding legal career if she had initially understood the extent of her daughter’s challenges. Speaking with CNN’s Abby Phillip, Jackson said that she and her family “struggled” to understand what her eldest daughter, Talia, needed and that there were moments when she felt she wasn’t meeting expectations at home or at the large Boston law firm she had joined shortly after earning her law degree. “We struggled, when she was young, trying to really understand what she needed,” Jackson said, noting that her family didn’t receive a diagnosis for Talia until years later. “I think if I had known earlier, I probably would have just decided that I needed to care for her full time.” In a memoir published this month, “Lovely One,” the newest justice on the Supreme Court tells a relatable narrative of a young family juggling high-pressure careers while raising two daughters. Talia was academically gifted but struggled with social interactions and transitions at school, Jackson writes, and was diagnosed at 11 with mild autism spectrum disorder. Jackson, who turns 54 on Saturday, reflected on that challenging period in the CNN interview. Despite times of uncertainty, Jackson said she believes she ultimately made the right decisions. “It’s hard to look back and feel regret,” said Jackson, whom President Joe Biden nominated to the Supreme Court in 2022. “I really wanted people to know that you can reach success – you can do things that you’ve dreamed about doing – even if you have challenges in your family.”