Senate Republicans found themselves under heavy critical fire this week for their treatment of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. Three members of the Senate GOP (Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz, and Josh Hawley) have already announced they will not vote to confirm Judge Jackson, the most experienced nominee to face the panel. “I cannot and will not support Judge Jackson for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court,” McConnell (R-KY) said Thursday from the Senate floor. McConnell and the others had voted to confirm Judge Jackson for her previous position as a federal judge.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) complained on Thursday that some earlier lines of questioning had been “beneath the dignity of the United States Senate.” And some of the Republican members of the body had the awareness to call out their colleagues’ antics. Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska had complained about “jackassery” and “people mugging for short-term camera opportunities.”
Republicans hammered Jackson over accusations that she was soft-on-crime, particularly in cases relating to child pornography, as well as trying to link her to hot-button social issues like transgender rights and critical race theory. Cruz illustrated one line of questioning with blown-up images from children’s books that he said promoted critical race theory.
We have MItch McConnell on tape saying Ketanji Brown Jackson is qualified to sit on the Supreme Court but now says he “cannot and will not” vote to confirm her.
Judge Jackson still has plenty of support from the Democratic side of the Senate, including from centrist West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who announced he’ll be voting to confirm her.
After meeting with Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, considering her record, and closely monitoring her testimony and questioning before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week, I have determined I intend to vote for her nomination to serve on the Supreme Court. My full statement: pic.twitter.com/SUgwuBtHup
Democratic Majority Whip Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina joined MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell on Thursday to discuss why Ketanji Brown Jackson is “eminently qualified” to sit on the Supreme Court and how she handled herself in a “remarkable” way against GOP attacks. Watch the segment, below.
