Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson chose a judicial collar loaded with symbolism for the 2025 Inauguration.

Over her black robes, the Justice wore a collar made of cowrie shells along with a pair of matching earrings. While the shell was used as currency in a variety of ancient cultures around the world, it was especially prized in African cultures, where it signified prosperity and protection. Meanwhile, the National Museum of African American History and Culture notes that, in America, the shell is thought to be a totem used to resist enslavement. Justice Jackson herself is a descendant of enslaved people. The connection feels particularly prescient on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which happened to coincide with the Inauguration. (This has only happened once before, on Bill Clinton’s 1997 Inauguration Day.)

Beyond its status as a protective talisman, the cowrie is also associated with womanhood and fertility. During his first term, Trump—who was found liable for sexual abuse in May 2023—made continuous efforts to erode women’s rights, which included appointing Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of attempted rape, to the Supreme Court. Even after Trump left office, his insidious, anti-women agenda continued to rear its head when the conservative-leaning Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

While Justice Jackson has yet to explain the exact meaning of her Inauguration collar, the cowrie shell’s multiple meanings point to a sartorial expression of her dissent.

The Justice’s symbolic choice followed in the tradition of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose roster of collars communicated her opinions—from the beaded jabot she wore to read a majority ruling, to the metallic necklace that telegraphed her dissent. While she has been photographed on the bench in a variety of statement-making jabots, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s collar for President Trump’s swearing-in ceremony sent a particularly powerful message.