Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson respectfully and forcefully warded off scurrilous partisan attacks by Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley and several other Republicans during a grueling second day of Confirmation hearings on Tuesday.
If confirmed, the U.S. Court of Appeals Judge for the Washington D.C. Circuit would become the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
Hawley’s 30-minute verbal assault, which included unfounded criticism that she was lenient in sentencing child porn offenders, was met with calm and professionalism by Jackson.
“As a mother and a judge who has had to deal with these cases, I was thinking that nothing could be further from the truth,” Judge Jackson told Hawley and members of the Senate Judicial Committee.
“These are some of the most difficult cases that a judge has to deal with because we’re talking about pictures of sex abuse of children.
“We’re talking about graphic descriptions that judges have to read and consider when they decide how to sentence in these cases, and there’s a statute that tells judges what they’re supposed to do.”
She then reminded Hawley that federal sentencing guidelines are established by Congress.
“I’m imposing … constraints because I understand how significant, how damaging, how horrible this crime is,” Jackson said.
Andrew Bates, White House deputy press secretary, released a Twitter post Tuesday evening that called Hawley’s antics an “embarrassing, QAnon-signaling smear.”
Many followers of former President Donald Trump believe a conspiracy theory that there is a secret cabal of pedophiles who worked to take him down. Several defendants charged in cases related to the Jan. 6 attack of the Capitol were proponents of the theory.
Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-South Carolina) pouted about his personal choice, Judge Michelle Childs, not being selected as the nominee.
“In your nomination, did you notice people from the left were pretty much cheering you on?” Graham asked Jackson.
“A lot of people were cheering me on,” Jackson responded.
Graham then claimed that progressive groups and others led an effort to disqualify Judge Childs, calling her “a union-busting unreliable Republican in disguise.”
Unnerved, Judge Jackson told the senator that she wasn’t aware of that because, as a sitting judge, she remained focused on cases before her.
After an exchange with Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois over detainees and Guantanamo Bay, Graham stormed from the Judicial Committee hearing room.
Earlier, Graham challenged Jackson’s religious beliefs.
“What faith are you, by the way? “Could you fairly judge a Catholic?” he asked.
“How important is your faith to you? On a scale of one to 10, how faithful would you say you are in terms of religion?”
Judge Jackson asserted that she identifies as a nondenominational Protestant Christian.
She insisted that her faith counts as very important but noted that there’s no religious test to confirmation under the U.S. Constitution.
“I am reluctant to talk about my faith in this way,” Jackson said defiantly.
“I want to be mindful of the need for the public to have confidence in my ability to separate out my personal views.”
When Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked whether Jackson would favor expanding the court from the current nine justices, she demurred.
“Respectfully, senator, other nominees to the Supreme Court have responded as I will, which is that it is a policy question for Congress,” Jackson stated.
“I am so committed to staying in my lane of the system.”
Sen. Grassley persisted, asking if the Supreme Court has been bought and paid for by “dark money.”
“Senator, I don’t have any reason to believe that that’s the case,” Jackson replied.
During the afternoon portion of the hearing, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) attempted to bring decorum, asking Judge Jackson about the significance of her nomination.
Judge Jackson offered that her appointment and having diversity on the bench allows the opportunity for role models.
“I have received so many notes and letters and photos from little girls around the country who tell me that they are so excited for this opportunity,” Judge Jackson stated.
“Because I am a woman, a Black woman, all of those things, people have said, have been really meaningful to them.”
