A Lifelong Commitment to Public Service

Rutgers alumnus Gregory Jackson, whose distinguished career included presiding over a groundbreaking and influential Washington, D.C., court that helped rehabilitate those charged with drug offenses, will be inducted in the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni on April 24.

When Gregory Jackson began middle school in the early 1960s, he awoke every morning to catch a city bus that headed from Northeast Washington toward the White House.

On the north side of the White House, Jackson, the son of government employees (his father, Fred, worked for the U.S. Post Office and his mother, Mary, for the department now known as Health and Human Services) would change onto another bus, boarding one that took him to a predominantly white school in Washington’s Georgetown neighborhood.

“D.C. was still very much a segregated city at the time,” says Jackson, who was among the first to participate in integrating some of the public schools in the nation’s capital. “Even as middle school students we recognized that this was a pivotal time—not only in the history of D.C., but in the history of the country in the early days of the Civil Rights Movement.”

Over the next four decades, Jackson would excel as a high school student and basketball player, Rutgers undergraduate and law student, attorney for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and as general counsel for the District of Columbia Department of Corrections. In 2004, President George W. Bush, the occupant of Washington’s most famous address—1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, where Jackson had once changed buses—nominated Jackson to the District of Columbia Superior Court, an appointment confirmed by the Senate.

For Jackson, who had never planned to be a judge, the appointment to the judicial role in his early fifties was a continuation of his lifelong commitment to public service that began in his childhood. “I grew up understanding that being a public servant was a good and honorable thing," he says. "My parents and many in our neighborhood were proud, hard-working government employees.” 

The commitment to the common good he grew up with at home in Washington was nurtured and cultivated as he studied political science at Rutgers–New Brunswick and law at Rutgers Law School in Newark.

“One of the things that attracted me to Rutgers was the strong sense of community that I felt during my campus visit,” he says. “That sense of community and a responsibility to the greater good have stayed with me throughout my life.”

Leading an Influential and Impactful Court

For 20 years as an associate judge and senior judge in the D.C. Superior Court, he served in the Civil Division and Domestic Violence Unit and presided over misdemeanor and felony cases in the Criminal Division. From 2012 through 2016, he served as presiding judge for the Superior Court Drug Intervention Program, informally known as “Drug Court.”

Drug Court, Jackson says, focused on defendants charged with “minor, nonviolent offenses. The idea was that if people were suffering from substance abuse or mental illness, and they were willing to participate in the treatment programs, they would in many instances have their cases dismissed.”

He says unlike the traditional, formal interaction a judge has through an attorney with those accused of crimes, Jackson talked directly with those before him about their treatment and challenges to recovery. He vividly remembers one defendant, who others in the program clearly looked up to, and who Jackson told had a responsibility to set a good example because others would follow his lead. Ultimately, this admonishment helped the young man to recover.

At his graduation ceremony, where each participant in the program had the opportunity to speak, Jackson says the young man “turned to me and said, ‘Thank you for talking to me like the father I never had.’ At that moment, you could have knocked me over with a feather.”

Other times, praise for the results of the program came from family members. “As a judge, there was nothing more moving than to have family members stand up and say, ‘Thank you for giving us our loved one back.’”

The court’s success in rehabilitating men and women became a focal point for international delegations interested in learning about drug court and other criminal justice alternatives to incarceration. Jackson traveled to Bolivia, Northern Ireland, Uruguay, and Guyana to participate in drug court training for criminal justice professionals, efforts sponsored by the U.S. State Department and the Organization of American States.

The effectiveness of the court in his hometown and its influence internationally still resonate for him. “That probably was the most significant experience of my professional career,” Jackson says.

From Rutgers Basketball to the Provost's Office

After attending public school through the ninth grade, Jackson earned admission into the Sidwell Friends School, a prestigious, private school in Washington where he starred in high school basketball. Recruited by more than 50 colleges and universities, he chose to attend Rutgers after graduating high school in 1969.

Jackson played for the Scarlet Knights freshman team and on the varsity team in his sophomore year, although he didn’t see much playing time that second season. In his junior year, he turned his focus to his studies and involvement with the university. “I realized that there was more of a future there for me than there was in basketball,” he says. While still a student, Jackson began working as an intern for one of the university’s vice presidents.

After he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1973, Jackson stayed in New Brunswick and worked for the university full time. He served as Assistant to the New Brunswick Provost and Student Complaints Officer. “It was my first experience as an advocate and the precursor to the things I would learn to do in law school and as a lawyer.” While participating on a committee convened by the university president, Jackson met Wade Henderson, a 1973 graduate of Rutgers Law School in Newark who stayed on after his graduation to serve as assistant dean.

Henderson, who was inducted in the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 2024, recruited Jackson. “Wade was the person who ultimately convinced me to go to law school,” Jackson says.

Henderson says he has been pleased to see his hopes for Jackson thoroughly fulfilled. “Greg has lived up to every expectation I had when I was encouraging him to attend law school,” Henderson says. “His role as a Superior Court judge here in Washington and his impact on the broader community, with young people in particular, have been outstanding.”

Legal Career

After earning his law degree in 1978, Jackson returned to his native Washington, where he has remained. He first served as an Honor Law Graduate at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In 1986, he became an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, a role that saw him investigating and prosecuting criminal cases.

In 1999, he was appointed general counsel at the District of Columbia Department of Corrections , where he organized and directed the resolution of complex legal issues including the closing of the Lorton Prison complex and the transition of the department from a state-like prison system to a municipal jail system. He held that role until he was appointed to the D.C. Superior Court in 2004, a role he fully retired from in December 2024.

Looking back over his career, which has earned him many awards and recognitions, he is moved by his selection to the Hall of Distinguished Alumni.

“One does not pursue a career in public service expecting fame and glory,” Jackson says. “The fact that Rutgers deems my service worthy of this recognition is more than I could have ever expected and is truly humbling. Words cannot adequately express how honored I am.”

Jackson is one of five new inductees who will be formally enshrined in the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni in a ceremony starting at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 24, at the Palace at Somerset Park, 333 Davidson Avenue, Somerset, New Jersey. For more information, visit the Hall of Distinguished Alumni page.

Nominator’s Remarks

"From the first semester of our freshman year in Mettler Hall, it was apparent that Greg was always the adult in the room. Watching him put in the hard work, one could immediately sense you were in the presence of a serious, dedicated student. Fast forward 50 years and you'll find a clear-headed jurist who presided over his court room with justice, fairness, and grace. It was my privilege to nominate him for this honor." — Edwin Carman RC’74