Jackson’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing has turned into a case study of how disconnected from reality large parts of the Republican ecosystem have become.
Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, presenting details of Judge Jackson’s sentencing history. Sarahbeth Maney/The New York Times
The Jackson hearings have become the latest example. Several Republican senators — including Josh Hawley, Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz yesterday — have tried to portray her as soft on child pornographers. Their argument depends on a misleading cherry-picking of facts from cases she has heard.
A useful debunking appeared this week in National Review, the conservative magazine, written by Andrew McCarthy, a former prosecutor who noted that he disagreed with Jackson on many legal matters. McCarthy also wrote that Hawley’s accusations were “meritless to the point of demagoguery” and “a smear.” Senator Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, has pointed out that some Trump nominees had a similar record as Jackson in child-pornography cases, and that Hawley voted to confirm them.
Ted Cruz continues to prove himself the buffoon of the Senate. In addition to the above, he cited Bushrod Washington as an example of an uncontroversial Supreme Court appointment. But Washington was not only a slaveholder, but was criticized in the press for his overly-harsh treatment of 54 slaves that he sold to pay off his debts. I wonder if it's accidental stupidity or a calculated move to make reference to a slaveholding Justice when considering the confirmation of the first black female Supreme Court justice?
As the confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson went into hour 13, Sen. Marsha Blackburn asked the Supreme Court nominee on Tuesday to define the word “woman.”
“I can’t — ” Jackson replied.
“You can’t?” Blackburn said.
“Not in this context. I’m not a biologist,” Jackson said.
I do think Jackson's answer could have been better, but the question is so shockingly inane that she seems to have been taken off guard. Obviously Blackburn is trying to make some point relating to gender politics but Jackson is required both by judicial ethics and by pragmatic considerations not to give her opinion on potential cases and controversies that may come before the court. But you know the right-wing media is going to have a field day with this answer and all of the ignorant right-wing followers will eat it up like it means something.
Blackburn (and the country) would have been better served by finding an actual decision Jackson made that involved gender politics. The fact that she isn't doing that suggests to me that there probably isn't such a decision on the books. Republicans keep trying to paint Jackson as this nutty liberal, and maybe she is, I don't know - but Republicans so far have done a very poor job of providing any real evidence of it. We really need to elect better leaders. Once again, this is embarrassing.
I know. I am just continually amazed at how incredibly stupid our politicians are in these hearings. That includes democrats, too, as many of them asked some incredibly stupid questions during the Kavanaugh and Barrett hearings.
BTW, Senate Buffoon Cruz didn't have to go back 200+ years to find a non-controversial Supreme Court pick. He could have cited the first female Supreme Court justice, Sandra Day O'Connor, who was confirmed with a 99-0 vote in 1981. Makes you wonder if he's just an idiot, or if he purposely reached back to a racist example because he was dealing with a black candidate.
I think it was a mistake for Biden to tell the country he was going to name a black female as a Supreme Court justice before he did it because it suggests that he was engaging in some type of affirmative action and allows bozos on the right wing to claim she's being appointed for her gender and race rather than her qualifications. However, there is very little question that Jackson is a highly experienced, highly qualified judge. And yes, she in fact has better qualifications than several recent appointees.
Now ask these right-wing bozos criticizing Biden about Ronald Reagan's promise to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court, and then following through by appointing Sandra Day O'Connor.
easyrider16 wrote: ↑Mar 24th, '22, 15:35Now ask these right-wing bozos criticizing Biden about Ronald Reagan's promise to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court, and then following through by appointing Sandra Day O'Connor.