End of day summary
- Supreme court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson vowed to decide cases from a “neutral posture” in her opening remarks to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday. Emphasizing her family and faith, she acknowledged the “historic chance” before her and said she stood on the “shoulders of so many who have come before me, including judge Constance Baker Motley, who was the first African American woman to be appointed to the federal bench and with whom I share a birthday.”
- Republicans sharpened their lines of attack against Jackson, making clear that they intend to press her on her judicial philosophy and more specifically on sentencing decisions she made related to cases involving child pornography offenders – accusations that several independent fact-checkers have called misleading.
- Republicans were also eager to re-litigate long-simmering grievances over past supreme court hearings, which Democrats said was a sign that they had few valid objections to her nomination.
- Democrats hailed the hearing as historic, taking turns to praise Jackson and her judicial record. They seemed optimistic that they had the votes to confirm her to the court, even without Republican votes.
- The committee will reconvene on Tuesday at 9am, when senators will question Jackson directly.
My colleague in Washington, Joanie Greve sends this analysis from today’s supreme court hearing.
History was made Monday, as the first Black woman ever nominated to the US supreme court testified to the Senate judiciary committee. But before Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson could speak at her confirmation hearing, she first had to listen to a lot of white men.
The Senate confirmation hearings for Jackson started Monday, giving the judge and every member of the judiciary committee the opportunity to deliver remarks about her nomination.
In her opening statement, Jackson took the opportunity to thank her parents, husband and two daughters, all of whom sat behind her in the hearing room as she delivered her remarks. Jackson recounted how her parents, two former public school teachers, had to endure lawful segregation in the years before her birth in 1970.
“My parents taught me that unlike the many barriers that they had had to face growing up, my path was clearer,” Jackson said. “So that if I worked hard and I believed in myself in America, I could do anything or be anything I wanted to be.”
Jackson delivered her moving opening statement about four and a half hours after the hearing began. All 22 members of the judiciary committee spoke before Jackson, alternating between praising her resume and raising questions about her past rulings. Jackson sat quietly for the first few hours of the hearing, occasionally smiling or taking notes about cases mentioned by the senators on the panel.
“You’re obviously a good listener because you’re doing a lot of listening here today,” Democrat Richard Blumenthal told Jackson.
The Guardian’s Ed Pilkington has summarized the case against Jackson, according to Republicans.
Chuck Grassley, from Iowa, portrayed the nominee as a darling of progressive “dark money” groups which he claimed were “soft on crime” at a time when violent crime was sweeping big cities.
Josh Hawley, of Missouri, doubled down on his incendiary accusation last week that in her seven years as a federal district court judge, Jackson showed leniency towards child pornography offenders. Hawley’s claims in a Twitter stream were exposed as baseless and misleading by media fact checkers.
In his opening statement on Monday, Hawley read out a list of seven cases heard by Jackson in her district court days which the senator claimed showed a disparity between relatively lenient sentences she meted out and both existing sentencing guidelines and prosecutors’ requests. Hawley said the cases “troubled” him.
Democrats can confirm Jackson without a single Republican vote, because judicial nominations only require a simple majority, with vice president Kamala Harris breaking the tie.
Some of the Republican senators who supported Jackson during her three previous confirmation hearings to different posts have signaled they won’t do so again.
Earlier today White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that Biden wasn’t watching Jackson’s confirmation hearing due to a scheduling conflict. He had a call scheduled with the leaders of the UK, France, Italy and Germany to discuss the war in Ukraine while the senators delivered their opening remarks on Monday.
“It’s hard to plan the president’s schedule around a moving Senate hearing,” Psaki said. “So I’m sure he’ll be able to watch replays of it and more specifics. But he wanted updates from aides as well.”
Psaki said Biden called his supreme court nominee on Sunday night to wish her good luck.
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Speaking after Monday’s hearing, Democrats extolled Jackson’s qualifications and said they looked forward to tomorrow, when she would have an opportunity to respond to some of the criticisms of her record.
“She was at a disadvantage today,” Durbin told reporters. Describing the format in which she listened to all 22 senators deliver opening statements without comment, he added: “She had to sit calmly and wait for her day tomorrow.”
Asked by reporters if Jackson had the support of all 50 Democrats, the minimum number of votes she would need to be confirmed, Durbin said they won’t count votes until later. He anticipated a vote taking place during the first week of April.
Democrats did not address Republicans’ repeated attempts to re-litigate the Kavanaugh hearing. Asked why not, Durbin said: “This isn’t a history class. ... I don’t want to relive that history. We are pushing forward with an eye to the future.”
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Jackson’s remarks conclude Day One of a four-day confirmation process. In adjourning the hearing, Durbin noted that the 10-minute remarks from each senator were effectively a “throat-clearing” exercise for the loquacious lawmakers.
The hearings will resume on Tuesday at 9am EST, when senators will each have a turn to question Jackson.
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Concluding her remarks, Jackson said she looked forward to answering the senators’ questions in the coming days.
I dedicated my career to ensuring that the words engraved on the front of the Supreme Court building, ‘equal justice under law’ are a reality and not just an ideal.
Thank you for this historic chance to join the highest court, to work with brilliant colleagues, to inspire future generations and to ensure liberty and justice for all.
Describing her judicial philosophy, Jackson said: “I have been a judge for nearly a decade now. And I take that responsibility and my duty to be independent very seriously and decide cases from a neutral posture. I evaluate the facts and I interpret and apply the law to the facts of the case before me without fear or favor.”
“I know that my role as a judge is a limited one,” she continued.
Jackson is addressing the committee for the first time as a Supreme Court nominee, emphasizing her family and faith. Her life, she told the committee, has been “blessed beyond measure.”
She began by reflecting on the sacrifice and perseverance of her parents. Her father went to law school later in life and sparked her interest in the law.
“My parents taught me that unlike the many barriers that they had had to face growing up, my path was clearer,” she said. “So that if I worked hard and I believed in myself, in America, I could do anything or be anything I wanted to be.”
Addressing her daughters, she told them that she tried to do her best balancing her professional career and motherhood.
“Girls, I know it has not been easy,” she said. “I fully admit that I did not always get the balance right but I hope that you’ve seen with hard work determination and love it can be done.”
Of Breyer, for whom she clerked and would replace on the court, she said: I know I can never fill his shoes...But if confirmed I would hope to carry on his spirit.”
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Jackson takes the oath; delivers her opening remarks.
After more than four hours, it is finally Jackson’s turn to speak.
Durbin administered the oath. The judge raised her right hand and swore that the testimony she was about to give would be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
“I do,” she said.
Almost 4.5 hours into the first day of the Senate Judiciary Hearing, it’s finally time to hear from Judge Jackson herself. She takes the oath and begins her remarks by thanking the committee members, her introducers Griffith and Fairfax, POTUS & FLOTUS, and VP & SGOTUS. pic.twitter.com/F4L3FWifHN
— Dylan Wells (@dylanewells) March 21, 2022
Ketanji Brown Jackson takes the oath as she prepares to give her opening statement pic.twitter.com/wrNGm8DeUr
— Lawrence Hurley (@lawrencehurley) March 21, 2022
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Praising Jackson, Griffith, a retired DC circuit judge, said she was a highly qualified judge who has repeatedly demonstrated her “unwavering commitment” to being an impartial jurist.
“Judge Jackson is an independent jurist who adjudicates based on the facts and the law and not as a partisan,” he said. “Time and again she has demonstrated that impartiality on the bench. ... Her rule is simple: follow the law.
He called the public’s surprise that a judge appointed by a Republican would be an enthusiastic supporter of Jackson a reflection of the “dangerous hyper-partisanship” that grips the judiciary.
Fairfax, a University of Pennsylvania law professor who was Jackson’s college roommate, spoke of Jackson as both a brilliant professional and a dear friend. “She is the role model who makes you believe in what she said,” Fairfax said, describing Jackson’s humor and “heart of gold.”
“We knew early on that she could be anything she chose to be,” she said, “But also that she seemed destined to be a judge because of her ability to see all sides and render fair and levelheaded decisions.”
Seated behind Fairfax, Jackson’s husband appears to be moved to tears, wiping his eyes as his wife’s friend introduces her to the committee. Jackson too dabbed her eyes when Fairfax finished.
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All 22 members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have spoken. Jackson sat patiently and listened over the course of several hours.
Before Jackson speaks, she will be introduced by Thomas Griffith, a former federal judge, and Lisa Fairfax, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and her former roommate.
The final few senators are delivering their opening statements. At this stage, it can get repetitive. But here are few highlights.
Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, spoke movingly about the significance of her nomination. He told the judge that he felt a sense of “overwhelming joy” as he marked the occasion.
He noted that Jackson’s daughter once wrote a letter to president Obama asking him to nominate her mom to the supreme court.
“I want to tell your daughter right now that that dream of hers is so close to being a reality,” he said.
Sen. Cory Booker says he feels “sense of overwhelming joy” at first historic confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) March 21, 2022
“Please, let me just acknowledge the fact that this is not normal. It has never happened before.” https://t.co/55DHEASz13 pic.twitter.com/sLI6M0PTFT
Taking a sharply different tack, senator Tom Cotton, a Republican of Arkansas who is believed to have presidential ambitions, delivered a diatribe attacking Biden and Democratic governance.
“We are witnessing a breakdown of society,” he said during his opening remarks about Jackson.
SUPREME COURT: Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) says, "We are witnessing a breakdown of society," at Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's SCOTUS confirmation hearing. pic.twitter.com/6SNpfu7Uhq
— Forbes (@Forbes) March 21, 2022
Senator Alex Padilla, a Democrat of California, sought to link their stories of achieving the American Dream against all odds, referencing his immigrant parents and her parent who attended segregated public schools as children. He finished his remarks in Spanish.
“Muchas gracias,” Durbin said to Padilla when he finished speaking.
Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican of North Carolina, said he was in the middle of reading her thesis, which he hoped to finish by tomorrow. He said he enjoyed meeting her in his office and was impressed by her responses and her willingness to take questions from members of his staff.
Surely he was intentionally vague, but unlike many of his Republican colleagues, Tillis signaled an openness to supporting her confirmation.
Senator Jon Ossoff, a Democrat of Georgia, began his remarks by invoking the killing of Ahmaud Arbery and new voting restrictions in his state. “In my state you can predict how long someone must wait to vote by where they live and the color of their skin,” he said, noting the judiciary’s role in protecting civil rights.
The last senator to speak is Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. Addressing Jackson’s daughters, Blackburn said: “Her best job is being mama. She likes that one.” That was her segue into discussing parental rights, which she described as defending parents’ constitutional rights against a “radical left” agenda.
She concludes by telling Jackson that she will have to answer whether she has a “hidden” agenda to let criminal and child pornography offenders back on the street.
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Ketanji Brown Jackson will be back in front of the Senate committee and cameras shortly and is expected to address the senators and the public.
Meanwhile, there’s a fascinating headline in the Washington Post teasing about “the two phoniest words you’ll hear during Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation”.
Here’s a chunk of their opinion piece:
Over the multiple days of her confirmation hearings for a seat on the Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson will have to sit attentively for hours while the 22 members of the Senate Judiciary Committee speechify at her, testing both her endurance and her ability to refrain from rolling her eyes when the likes of Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) ascend the heights of inane demagoguery at her expense.
Amid all that pontification, there’s a particular phrase you should watch out for that will likely be repeated dozens of times: “judicial philosophy.” The phrase should raise red flags because it’s a signal that the person using it is about to pull a fast one, either to claim they themselves believe something they really don’t, or to pretend that an attack they’re making on Jackson is far more high-minded than it actually is.
“I want us to vet Judge Jackson’s judicial philosophy,” said Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), one of the many potential presidential aspirants who sits on the Judiciary Committee. “I don’t want us to attack her as a human.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) claimed, “Judicial philosophy is a key qualification for the Supreme Court.” While noting that there are plenty of “smart lawyers” out there, McConnell argued that instead of applying laws neutrally, “some would rather start with liberal outcomes and reason backwards.”
There you have it: The idea that a judge might have a conservative outcome they want to achieve isn’t even worthy of consideration; only liberals would be so crass. Conservatives, you see, have a judicial philosophy....Jackson herself was asked about this during her confirmation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; she replied, “I do not have a judicial philosophy per se, other than to apply the same method of thorough analysis to every case, regardless of the parties.”
The rest of the piece is here.
Former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican, and several other officials must testify in a civil trial involving engineering firms being sued over liability for lead-contaminated water connected to the Flint water crisis, a judge ruled today.
US District Judge Judith Levy denied motions by Snyder, his former advisor, two former state-appointed emergency managers and an ex-Flint city official to quash subpoenas compelling them to testify, The Associated Press reports.
The AP further writes:
Snyder faces misdemeanor charges in the water crisis. His attorney has said Snyder would invoke his right to remain silent if called as a witness in the ongoing civil trial in federal court in Ann Arbor.
The Associated Press left a voicemail Monday seeking comment from Snyder’s attorney, Brian Lennon.
Attorneys for four Flint children claim Veolia North America and Lockwood, Andrews & Newman were negligent in not doing more to get the city to properly treat water that was being pulled from the Flint River in 2014-15.
Corrosive water caused lead to leach from service lines serving homes, a disastrous result in the majority Black community.
They were not part of a $626 million settlement between Flint residents and the state of Michigan, the city and two other parties.
Snyder and the other officials already have given detailed deposition testimony on-the-record interviews with lawyers in the lawsuit without appealing “to their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination,” Levy wrote in her opinion.
“Each ... voluntarily testified during the deposition phase of this case, and now wishes to invoke the privilege against self-incrimination on the same subject matter,” Levy continued. “They cannot do so.”
A hearing will be held to determine how the court will address specific arguments during the trial where their answers could expose them to risk of self-incrimination.
There is no safe level of lead. It can harm a child’s brain development and cause attention and behavior problems.
The leaders of the US, Germany, France, Britain and Italy spoke to each other by telephone earlier today, for about an hour, and agreed on the importance of remaining united over Ukraine, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s office said.
“The leaders reaffirmed the importance of the unity of purpose and action shown in the face of the war in Ukraine and its repercussions,” the statement said, as news agency Reuters just reported.
“In the face of the grave humanitarian emergency, the leaders pledged to coordinate efforts to help the Ukrainian population fleeing the conflict or those stranded at home,” it added.
Italy said earlier that the call was aimed at preparing for the Nato, Group of Seven and European Council meetings planned for later this week, which we just reported on and which Joe Biden will attend.
While the US Senate is taking a break during the first day of confirmation hearings this week for Ketanji Brown Jackson, Joe Biden’s choice to replace the retiring Stephen Breyer on the US supreme court, there’s a moment to catch up with what is going on elsewhere.
Over the last few weeks, the US politics blog has been dominated by US-related news concerning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But throughout, those readers who would like to follow our global coverage of the war can click on our Ukraine crisis live blog, which is here, and is running around the clock.
And our lead story reports that Ukraine has rejected out of hand an ultimatum from Moscow to surrender the devastated city of Mariupol, as authorities in Odesa accused Russia of striking residential areas in what would be the invading forces’ first attack on the Black Sea port. More on that here.
The US president earlier today was scheduled to host a call with Emmanuel Macron of France, Olaf Scholz of Germany, Mario Draghi of Italy and Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom to discuss their coordinated responses to the crisis.
Later this week, Biden is heading to Europe and on Thursday will attend an emergency Nato summit, a G7 meeting and a scheduled European Council summit to discuss Ukraine, “including transatlantic efforts to impose economic costs on Russia, provide humanitarian support to those affected by the violence, and address other challenges related to the conflict”, the White House said.
On Friday he is due to go to Poland, but there are no plans for Biden to cross their land border into Ukraine on this trip, as secretary of state Antony Blinken did a couple of weekends ago.
More here.
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Intermission. The Senate Judiciary Committee is breaking briefly for lunch. I too will take a break. In that time, I’ll leave the blog in the trusted hands of Joanna Walters who will continue to keep you up to date with developments in US political news. Back in a jiffy.
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Senator Mazie Hirono, a Democrat from Hawaii, touched on some of the conservative criticism of Jackson, which included questions about her qualifications and her educational attainment.
She said Jackson’s nomination was “not about filling a quota. It’s about time ... It is about time our highest court better reflects the country it serves.”
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Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican of Missouri who has raised the most serious questions about Jackson’s record, outlined seven cases in he said he hopes to ask her about during the question and answer session, all related to sentencing decisions in cases involving child pornography offenders.
“In each of these seven, judge Jackson handed down a lenient sentence that was below what the federal guidelines recommended and below what prosecutors requested. So I think there’s a lot to talk about there and I look forward to talking about it,” he said.
Hawley said he has been criticized for raising these concerns before the hearing but insisted he did that only to prepare Jackson for such a line of questions, rather than spring them on her unexpectedly.
“I’m not interested in trying to play gotcha. I’m interested in her answers,” he said, calling her “enormously thoughtful” and accomplished.
Independent fact-checkers have labeled Hawley’s allegations misleading and lacking context and Democrats have forcefully rebutted the claims.
When he ended his remarks, Durbin, who has called the accusations baseless, said it was certainly important that the judge be able to respond to charges of this nature.
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As many of his colleagues have, Senator Ben Sasse, a Republican of Nebraska, brought up the Kavanaugh hearings. He said he was pleased that Jackson’s hearings hadn’t been interrupted by the “theatrics” of a “bunch of yokels.”
Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, said it was unfortunate that many of his colleagues were focused on grievances of supreme court hearings past.
“This hearing should really be about you, not about us,” he said.
Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat of Delaware, emphasized the broad and bipartisan support Jackson has received, including from police organizations and judges appointed by Republican president. She was also confirmed to the appeals court on a bipartisan basis.
Coons recalled meeting Jackson’s brother, who he quoted as saying, “I’m not surprised I am here at all. This is the sort of thing my sister was destined to from the very start.”
Demand Justice has responded to Republicans, after several members mentioned the progressive organization’s advocacy.
Senate Republicans’ obsession with talking about Demand Justice at Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearings is the ultimate tell that they have thrown in the towel on putting up a meaningful fight against Jackson’s nomination,” the group said in a statement.
With the exception of certain spotlight-seeking Judiciary Committee members like Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, most top Republicans have already acknowledged Jackson is too qualified to oppose all-out without inviting backlash. For these Republicans, making side arguments about outside liberal groups offers a detour from having to frontally attack Jackson.”
Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and a presidential aspirant, is speaking now in remarks peppered with conservative talking points and grievances.
Cruz began by recounting the history of supreme court nomination and lamented how contentious they have become, though he notably left out the controversial and unprecedented decision by then-majority leader McConnell to deny Obama the opportunity to fill a supreme court vacancy, which infuriated Democrats and poisoned the already-poisoned well. No Democrats have mentioned Merrick Garland, who Obama nominated but never received a hearing. He is now the attorney general.
Echoing his Republican colleagues, he said the hearings would be different than the Kavanaugh hearings. “No one is going to inquire into your teenage dating habits. No one is going to ask you with mock severity, do you like beer.”
During the course of his confirmation hearing, Kavanaugh was accused by Christine Blasey Ford of sexual assaulting her in the early 1980s, when they were in high school. Kavanaugh denied all allegations.
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Democratic senators Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota both praised Jackson.
Whitehouse called the process “refreshing” and made reference to the network of conservative judicial groups that elevated the past three justices, all Trump appointees.
“We are holding a hearing for an accomplished, experienced, highly-qualified nominee to the supreme court – who came to us not through a dark-money-funded turnstile, but through a fair and honest selection process,” he said.
He added: “We’ve already seen dark money groups use dark money to run ads charging that dark money swayed this election. We are hearing that again today. Ironic when hundreds of millions of dollars in right wing dark money built the current court majority.”
Klobuchar, her voice wavering, recalled her recent trip to the Polish border with Ukraine, from where millions of citizens have fled during the Russian assault.
“Your confirmation hearing comes at a moment in our history when the people of this country are once again seeing, this time in Ukraine, that democracy can never be taken for granted,” she said. “Eternal vigilance, it’s been said, is the price of liberty.”
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Here are some scenes from outside the supreme court, where Jackson’s supporters have gathered to urge her confirmation.
Several Republicans have raised the issue of court-packing, an idea that has gained traction on the left.
Senator John Cornyn, a Republican of Texas, said he was dismayed that Jackson hasn’t directly engaged with the subject while Graham said she should expect questions about whether she supports expanding the court beyond nine members. Senator Mike Lee, a Republican of Utah, who said he is “sickened” by efforts to “delegitimize” the court through expansion.
“Nine is a number that works. It’s worked now for 152 years and it’s not one we ought to revisit,” Lee said. “We must protect the court.”
Expect to hear more questions about proposed changes to the court over the course of the next few days.
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Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, praised Jackson and noted that she will be filling the seat vacated by justice Stephen Breyer, who is retiring.
“You’ve learned from the best,” she said.
“The supreme court is not a political institution,” Feinstein said. “Rather, the court stands above politics and above partisanship.”
The California Democrat said she was honored to be on the committee to consider her historic nomination, but also praised her time as a public defender, service she praised as “very significant and important”.
In 2020, Feinstein announced her decision to step down as the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee after facing intense blowback from Democrats about the way she handled the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, just weeks before the presidential election.
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Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican of South Carolina, delivered an angry defense of Republicans and their right to ask Jackson “tough questions”.
“It’s about ‘we’re all racists’ if we ask hard questions,” Graham said. “It’s not going to fly with us.” Graham said to “count me in” on diversifying the court but expressed his disappointment that Biden did not choose J Michelle Childs, a South Carolina judge who is Black and was his first choice for the nomination.
“It’s good for the court to look like America,” he said.
He told Jackson that the hearings were going to be “challenging for you, informative for the public and respectful by us.” Like Grassley, he vowed it would not become a circus and told Jackson that she was a “ beneficiary of Republican nominees having their lives turned upside down.”
Graham was one of three Republicans to support her confirmation to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals but suggested in his remarks that he is not likely to support her for the supreme court.
“This is a new game for the Supreme Court,” he said.
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Now that Durbin and Grassley have finished their remarks, each senator on the committee will have about 10 minutes to give opening remarks. Buckle up, because there are 22 committee members. Expect a lot of repetition as Democrats extol Jackson’s record and résumé and pre-but some of the Republican attacks.
Meanwhile, Republicans are raising questions about cases and decisions that they can portray as “soft on crime” or radically liberal, in their view. Expect many references to past supreme court nominations, as many Republicans have already spent ample time decrying the way conservative justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett were treated during their hearing.
“Let’s make a few things clear: Judge Jackson is no judicial activist,” said Vermont senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat. “She is not a puppet of the so-called Radical Left. She’s been praised by Republican-appointed judges for her jurisprudence. Lawyers of the right and the left who appeared before her in court have called her judicious and even-handed.”
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Senator Chuck Grassley, the ranking Republican on the committee, congratulated Jackson on her nomination and welcomed her family to the hearing. Her husband and daughters are in the audience.
He vowed that the hearing would not become a “spectacle based upon alleged process fouls,” he said, drawing a contrast with the Kavanaugh hearing.
“We’re off to a very good start,” he said. “Unlike the start to the Kavanaugh hearings, we didn’t have repeated, choreographed interruptions of chairman Durbin during his opening statements, like Democrats interrupted me for more than an hour during my opening statement.”
“What we will do is ask tough questions” about Jackson’s record, he said.
In previewing some of the questions Republicans might ask, he lamented that the committee hasn’t received all of the documents related to her time on the US Sentencing Commission. He also talked about rising violent crime rates and the “influence” of progressive groups on Biden’s judicial nominations.
Though groups like Demand Justice, a progressive group that backs Jackson’s nomination and was singled out by Grassley, have helped raise the importance of the judiciary among Democrats, the influence the group has on the process pales in comparison to conservative groups like the Federalist Society, which effectively grooms and short-lists judicial nominees for Republican presidents.
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Durbin: 'It’s not easy being the first'
With the clack of a gavel, Senate Judiciary Committee Dick Durbin opened the hearing. He began by noting Thomas’s hospitalization and wishing him a speedy recovery. He then laid out the rules, asking the audience to remain respectful and vowing to remove any loud or unruly protesters.
He then moved into the meat of his argument, touching on the significance of her nomination.
“When the supreme court met for the very first time, February 17, in the Exchange Building in New York, there were nearly 700,000 slaves without the right citizenship in this new nation of nearly 4 million people,” he said.
“The reality is that the court’s members in one respect have never really reflected the nation they serve.”
“It’s not easy being the first,” he continued. “Often you have to be the best, and in some ways the bravest.”
He then sought to rebut some of the attacks that have levied against her, that she is “soft-on-crime” and “rubber stamp” for the left.
“Now there may be some who claim without a shred of evidence that you’ll be a rubber stamp for this president,” he said. To her critics he said: “Your complete record has been scoured by this committee on four different occasions.”
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In just a minute, the 22-member panel of the Senate Judiciary Committee will gavel for the historic nomination hearing of Ketanji Brown Jackson.
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In a 50-50 Senate with Democrats holding the tie-breaking vote, the overwhelming view in Washington is that Jackson will be confirmed. The outstanding question then is whether her confirmation will attract any Republican support, as Jackson did when she was appointed to the DC court of appeals last year.
Until the last couple of days, Republicans had treaded lightly, promising to be “fair” and “respectful”. However, in recent days, Republicans have started to raise questions about her record related to crime.
“We’re in the middle of a violent crime wave including soaring rates of homicides, and car jackings,” McConnell said last week. “Amid all this, the soft on crime brigade is squarely in Judge Jackson’s corner.”
In a series of tweets last week, Republican senator Josh Hawley went further, alleging she has “an alarming pattern” of sentencing child pornography offenders to prison terms that were less than those recommended by the sentencing guidelines.
The White House and Durbin defended her against. Jackson comes from a law enforcement family, a point she herself has emphasized in her remarks at the White House.
Still, it’s a theme we expect Republicans to hammer, particularly as they try to weaponize the issue of crime against Biden in this year’s congressional midterm elections.
Biden: Jackson 'deserves to be confirmed to the supreme court'
In a tweet ahead of her confirmation hearing, Biden called Jackson a “brilliant legal mind” who “deserves to be confirmed to the supreme court.”
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is a brilliant legal mind with the utmost character and integrity.
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 21, 2022
She deserves to be confirmed as the next Justice of the Supreme Court. pic.twitter.com/a15I2VkbLb
The tweet included a video of Jackson’s nomination event at the White House, in which Biden introduced the 51-year-old judge as someone who is “committed to equal justice under the law and who understands the profound impact that the supreme court’s decisions have on the lives of the American people.”a pragmatic understanding that the law must work for the American people”.
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Jackson has received a rating of “well qualified” to serve on the supreme court by the American Bar Association, its highest possible ranking for a judge.
In a letter to Senate Judiciary chairman Dick Durbin, who is the majority whip, and senator Chuck Grassley, the committee’s ranking Republican member, the ABA said it unanimously rated Jackson “well qualified” to serve on the nation’s highest court.
“As you know, the Standing Committee confines its evaluation to the qualities of integrity, professional competence, and judicial temperament,” said Ann Claire Williams, who chairs the ABA’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, in a statement. “The Standing Committee is of the unanimous opinion that Judge Jackson is ‘Well Qualified’ to serve on the United States Supreme Court.”
Williams will testify about ABA’s ranking before the committee during Thursday’s hearing.
The three most recent supreme court nominees, all appointees of former president Donald Trump, received the same rating from the ABA.
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Introducing Jackson on Monday will be two people who know her well: Thomas Griffith and Lisa Fairfax.
Griffith was appointed by George Bush to the DC circuit court of appeals, where he served until his retirement in 2020. He also served on Biden’s presidential supreme court commission.
He recently wrote to the Senate committee in support of Jackson’s confirmation, in which he noted that he often reviewed her decisions while serving on the court of appeals.
“I occasionally differed on the best outcome of a given case,” he wrote. “And in one important case involving the former president, I was one of two judges on a three-judge panel who voted to overturn her decision. However, I have always respected her careful approach, extraordinary judicial understanding, and collegial manner, three indispensable traits for success as a justice on the supreme court.”
Fairfax is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, where she is also the co-director of the Institute for Law and Economics. She was also Jackson’s roommate in college and law school at Harvard University.
“Ketanji was a lawyer before she went to law school, always thinking of every side of an issue,” Fairfax told The Washington Post last month.
In the story, Fairfax told the Post that Jackson’s college room was a place where other Black women found comfort and conversation on campus. But it was also a place where Jackson brought together “her very diverse group of friends”, Fairfax said. “She always told us, ‘You have to talk to different people.’”
Griffith and Fairfax will each have five minutes to introduce Jackson to the committee.
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Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate minority leader, said on Sunday he and Ketanji Brown Jackson “had a very good conversation” when they met before her confirmation hearings.
Speaking to CBS, McConnell said he asked her to “defend the court” against those who say Democrats should expand it beyond nine justices to redress its ideological balance.
“Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Breyer both publicly opposed court packing,” McConnell said, “that is trying to increase the number of members in order to get an outcome you like. That would have been an easy thing for [Jackson] to do, to defend the integrity of the court. She wouldn’t do that.”
The man who drastically shifted the balance of the court in part by denying a nomination to Barack Obama in 2016 and swiftly confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett four years later also said: “I haven’t made a final decision as to how I’m gonna vote.”
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A majority of Americans say Jackson should be confirmed to the supreme court, according to a Monmouth University poll released ahead of her hearing on Monday.
The poll finds that Americans support Jackson’s nomination by a more than 2 to 1 margin, with 55% saying she should be confirmed compared with only 21% who say she should not be confirmed.
NATIONAL POLL: Majority (55%) supports confirming Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to #SCOTUS [21% say she should not be confirmed and 24% are unsure].
— MonmouthPoll (@MonmouthPoll) March 21, 2022
SHOULD / SHOULD NOT by PARTY
DEM: 82% / 3%
IND: 55% / 18%
REP: 29% / 42% https://t.co/ZMu9KJrRgk
According to the survey, more than two-thirds of the public believe it is important for the court to reflect the nation’s diversity, and a majority approve of Biden’s campaign promise to appoint a Black woman to the court, a pledge seen as controversial by some Republicans. Just over 4 in 10 Americans disapproved of his decision to make race a factor in the selection process.
Only 19% feel that having a Black woman on the Supreme Court will have a “real impact” on how cases are decided, compared with 46% who say it will have only a “limited impact” and 31% who say it will have no impact at all.
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Over the weekend, the supreme court announced that justice Clarence Thomas had been admitted to the hospital after experiencing “flu-like symptoms” and was then found to have an infection.
A court spokesperson said that Thomas, who has been vaccinated and boosted, did not have Covid-19. The court offered no explanation for why it waited two days to disclose that the justice was in the hospital.
According to a statement released late Sunday, Thomas “was admitted to Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington DC on Friday evening after experiencing flu-like symptoms.”
“He underwent tests, was diagnosed with an infection and is being treated with intravenous antibiotics. His symptoms are abating, he is resting comfortably and he expects to be released in the hospital in a day or two,” it said.
The 73-year-old conservative is the longest-serving justice, having been confirmed under George HW Bush in 1991. Thomas’s confirmation hearings were tempestuous, after he was accused of sexual harassment, which he denied.
The supreme court is meeting this week to hear arguments in four cases.
The court said: “Justice Thomas will participate in the consideration and discussion of any cases for which he is not present on the basis of the briefs, transcripts and audio of the oral arguments.”
The news broke hours before Jackson’s supreme court hearing was due to begin. Thomas, a conservative, was only the second Black justice
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Supreme court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson to testify before Senate
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of all things politics.
Today we will bring you live coverage from the Senate judiciary hearing, where supreme court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will testify. The four-day spectacle begins at 11am, with opening statements from Jackson and all 22 members of the committee as well as those introducing the judge. If confirmed, she will the first Black woman to serve on the nation’s highest court in its 233-year history.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden will host a secure call with European leaders and allies ahead of his trip to Brussels for an emergency NATO Summit on Ukraine. Later in the evening, the US president will join the quarterly meeting of the Business Roundtable’s CEO to discuss Ukraine.
The White House announced late Sunday night that Biden will visit Warsaw, Poland, during his trip to Europe. There he will meet with Polish president Andrzej Duda to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing humanitarian crisis.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki will brief reporters alongside deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology Anne Neuberger.
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