The Senate Confirmation Hearings of Ketanji Brown Jackson
The Senate confirmation hearings of Ketanji Brown Jackson have not been action-packed in the ways America remembers with Justice Brett Kavanaugh. However, they have launched a partisan battle as key Republicans seek their 15 minutes of fame through sound bites and histrionics.
Of the Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Ted Cruz is the one senator who has worked the hardest to stay on top of the Twitter newsfeed and on TV.
During Wednesday’s confirmation hearing, Cruz had a heated exchange with Senator Dick Durbin from Illinois. Afterwards, Cruz was spotted searching Twitter for mentions of his name.
However, Cruz was not alone in his performative tantrums. Other senators, such as Marsha Blackburn, Josh Hawley, and Tom Cotton, have all used the high-profile moment of the confirmation hearing as a trial run as 2024 presidential hopefuls.
It’s no secret the Republicans are counting down the days until the 2024 presidential election, but using a confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court as an opportunity to test the waters is in poor form. Nevertheless, it is important to note, this type of grandstanding is not unique to Republicans, Democrats in past confirmation hearings as well.
As many remember, for better or worse, the spectacle which became Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s hearing, leading Senator Cory Booker to walk out of the hearing, declaring, “I cannot participate in what I know history will look back on as a dark moment.” Senator Booker later ran for president. Other Democrats, such as Senator Amy Klobuchar and then-Senator Kamala Harris, on the Senate Judiciary Committee, also used the 2018 hearing to capitalize on the moment, and would go on to run for president.
While Republicans bloviate and work to outdo each other in soundbites and feigned outrage, they are distracting from the point of the hearing: getting to know Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and the kind of Supreme Court judge she will be.
Having clerked for Justice Stephen Breyer, the judge she has been nominated to replace, Jackson would not only be the first African-American woman to sit on the highest bench of the land, but she would also be the first Supreme Court Justice with experience as a public defender. Jackson’s work as a public defender provides her with a unique perspective, having represented some of the country’s most vulnerable people.
Notably, in 2019, Jackson issued an opinion rejecting Trump’s claim of executive privilege regarding the House investigation into his dealings with Ukraine, stating, “the primary takeaway from the past 250 years of recorded American history is that Presidents are not kings.”
Jackson’s education and legal career are impressive. For women striving to balance home, marriage, and work life, Jackson is a reminder that with a little hard work and perseverance, it is possible for women to have it all.
Unfortunately, the highlight reel of Jackson’s confirmation hearing has been woven with Republican overtures of grandstanding over culture wars and cheap attempts for viral social media sound bites.
The truth is, even though history will mark the occasion of Jackson’s historic nomination and she will soon be confirmed as the next Supreme, the hearings and flash in the pan moments will fade into the background. A year from now, or even in six months, no one will remember the Republicans’ attempt to turn the confirmation hearings into a dramedy. What will be remembered is the glass ceiling Ketanji Brown Jackson shattered and the forthcoming opinions she will issue during her lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court of the United States. At the end of the day, all that really matters is that Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson rules cases from a neutral posture and defends the Constitution.
The GOP can have their TNT moments as long as they leave the judicial rulings to Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.