Racial tension, political opportunism color hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson: ANALYSIS
The partisan divide was on full display during Jackson's confirmation process.
Two days of intense questioning have come to a close and all signs point to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson completing her historic ascent to the nation's highest court. Jackson's confirmation is on track for early April with or without Republican support.
Despite the reality that the outcome of these hearings was essentially a foregone conclusion, takeaways from the hearings are like much else in Washington these days -- colored by divergent ideas on race in America, contentious partisanship and political opportunism.
On the left, much has been made of the historic nature of Jackson's nomination. If confirmed, she will break barriers as the first Black woman on the court. It's a point that every Democrat, and a few Republicans, on the Senate Judiciary Committee championed.
At the same time, Jackson's identity as a Black woman was weaponized by many on the right. On Monday, Sen. Lindsey Graham's remarks included a thinly veiled nod to lawmakers who claimed Biden's Supreme Court pick would be a beneficiary of affirmative action.
"You are the beneficiary of a lot," Graham told Jackson.
Jackson faced a barrage of questions focused on critical race theory, which she repeatedly said didn't factor into her work as a judge. Republicans sometimes referred to critical race theory in its proper context, referring to a legal concept of how race is embedded in the practices of our nation's institutions, and other times invoked it to describe what has become shorthand in conservative circles for discussions of race in the classroom.
The Republican National Committee even posted a graphic on Twitter, crossing out Jackson's initials "KBJ" and replacing them with "CRT." The post drew accusations of racism and questions about whether a white candidate would ever be labeled in such a way.
During impassioned remarks Wednesday, Sen. Cory Booker offered a sentiment shared by many about CRT-related criticism -- that facing indignities is a part of the lived experience of people of color in this country.
"You faced insults here that were shocking to me," Booker told Jackson, who was overcome with tears. "Well, actually not shocking."
Jackson also found herself in the crossfire of partisan bickering about the influence of dark money groups while many Republicans attempted to relitigate the treatment of both Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh during their confirmation hearings.
While some Republicans on the committee, like Sens. Ben Sasse and Thom Tillis, offered substantive, pointed questions pertaining to Jackson's judicial philosophy and record, several others who are considered potential 2024 contenders used their allotted time to offer red meat to their bases.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., led the line of questions pertaining to Jackson's sentencing record on child porn cases. Experts described Jackson's record to ABC News as "pretty mainstream." The National Review described the criticism from Hawley on the issue as "disingenuous" and "meritless to the point of demagoguery." Regardless, Hawley hammered Jackson on the topic. The accusations of being "soft" on sex offenders can be considered a dog whistle to QAnon conspiracy theorists.
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz brought props, race-related books including Ibram Kendi's children's book "Antiracist Baby" and asked Jackson, "Do you agree with this book that is being taught to kids that babies are racist?" The move, part of the amorphous campaign against critical race theory, was an effort to speak to an issue that has energized conservative parents under the push for "parental rights" in schools. Additionally, Cruz plugged his podcast during his opening remarks and after a tense back and forth with the committee's Democratic chair, Sen. Dick Durbin, journalists in the room spotted him searching Twitter for his own name, presumably to read real-time responses to his performance.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., employed many of the same tactics as Hawley and Cruz, engaging in questions pertaining to so-called critical race theory and child porn. He used his opening remarks to offer what sounded like a stump speech to slam the Biden administration.
"The Biden administration is waging war on the federal powers and Constitution," said Cotton. "We are witnessing a breakdown of society. There may -- many Americans who do not feel safe. Parents are scared to walk down the streets that used to be free from crime."
Across the three cable news channels, 3.4 million people tuned in Monday to see the opening remarks delivered by Jackson, according to Nielsen Media Research data.
"These are political proceedings and they are high profile, so they offer a great vehicle for aspiring politicians to sound a message to their bases," Mark Updegrove, president and CEO of the LBJ Foundation, said on ABC News Live.
The committee could vote as early as April 4, with Durbin setting a goal of confirming Jackson before the Senate's Easter recess. The mother of two school-age children would bring the record number of women serving on the court at once up to four, joining Barrett, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
"In my capacity as a justice, I would do what I've done for the past decade," Jackson said Wednesday during questioning, "which is to rule from a position of neutrality, to look carefully at the facts and ... to render rulings that I believe and that I hope that people would have confidence in."