The final day of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s historic confirmation hearings is set to begin on Thursday, with legal experts, other groups and witnesses offering their say as the Senate Judiciary Committee wraps up four days of hearings.
Jackson faced a grueling two days of questioning from the full Senate Judiciary panel on Tuesday and Wednesday, with topics ranging from her judicial philosophy to attacks on her sentencing for child pornography cases.
Jackson declared she would rule “without any agendas” as the high court’s first Black female justice, rejecting Republican efforts to paint her as soft on crime in her decade on the federal bench. Democrats defended her and heralded the historic nature of her nomination.
“America is ready for the Supreme Court glass ceiling to shatter,” Sen. Dick Durbin, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Wednesday, Jackson’s second and final day answering questions.
Republicans, including Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri, a 2024 presidential hopeful, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., focused their attacks on what they alleged was reduced sentences for child pornography cases, while others, like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, pressed her for a recusal in a key case over affirmative action at Harvard University, her alma mater where she currently serves on the Board of Overseers.
Hawley on Wednesday continued to press Jackson on the specific child pornography case U.S. vs. Hawkins, where she sentenced a man to three months as opposed to the two years requested by the prosecution.
Hawley asked her: “Judge, you gave him three months. My question is: Do you regret it or not?”
She answered: “Senator, what I regret is that in the hearing about my qualifications to be a justice on the Supreme Court, we’ve spent a lot of time focusing on this small subset of my sentences, which I’ve tried to explain.”
The sustained focus on her record suggested that, contrary to Democratic hopes, Jackson’s confirmation vote in the full Senate is unlikely to garner much, if any, Republican support. Still, several Republicans acknowledged that she is likely to be on the court. Democrats can confirm her without any bipartisan support in the 50-50 Senate as Vice President Kamala Harris can cast the tiebreaking vote.
But the criticism was punctuated by praise from Democrats, including a powerful speech from New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, which brought Jackson to tears.
Booker, one of three Black senators currently serving in Congress, described how much Jackson’s nomination means to him, saying in part: “I just look at you and I start getting full of emotion.”
Jackson, too, appeared emotional, wiping away tears at the height of Booker’s address.
“You are a person that is so much more than your race and gender. You are a Christian, you are a mom, you are an intellect, you love books,” Booker said. “But for me, I’m sorry, it’s hard for me to look at you and not see my mom, not see my cousins […] I see my ancestors and yours.”
“Any one of us Senators can yell as loud as we want that Venus can’t serve, that Beyonce can’t sing, that astronaut Mae Jamison didn’t go that high,” Booker said. “As it says in the bible, ‘let the work I’ve done speak for me’. Well, you have spoken.”
“Nobody is going to steal that joy,” he added. “You have earned this spot. You are worthy. You are a great American.”
Another emotional exchange came from Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., who – after listing Jackson’s many accomplishments – said some lines questioning have “been a reminder, and in some ways, a new ‘Exhibit A,’ that for people of color, particularly those who have the audacity to try to be the first, often have to work twice as hard to get half the respect.”
Padilla, who is the son of Mexican immigrants, said he was reminded of his own high school experience last week while discussing Jackson’s nomination with students at a school in San Francisco.
“As I was speaking with the students, I couldn’t help but be reminded of my own high school experience,” Padilla began. “When one of my teachers discouraged me from applying to MIT, because they didn’t want me to be disappointed. I turned that discouragement into motivation.”
“Judge Jackson, I know that you, too, have been doubted on your way,” he continued. “To the seat that you find yourself in today. Even after the last three days of this hearing, your experience and qualifications have been called into question by some despite your clear, lengthy record of talent, achievement, and accomplishment.”
“On behalf of the young people I visited with last Friday in South San Francisco and for the many others across the country who are watching this confirmation hearing today […] what do you say to some of them who may doubt that they can one day achieve the same great heights that you have?” Padilla asked.
Jackson, after wiping away tears, responded in part: “Thank you, senator. That was very moving. And I appreciate the opportunity to speak to young people. I appreciate it very much.”
On Thursday, the last day of hearings, interest groups including the American Bar Association and civil rights organizations will testify about Jackson’s suitability for the court. Witnesses chosen by Republican senators will also speak.
The American Bar Association, which evaluates judicial nominees, last week gave Jackson its highest rating, unanimously “well qualified.”
The Senate Judiciary committee will meet in executive session on Monday to consider Jackson’s nomination, with a vote set for April 4. Senate Democrats are hoping to vote to confirm Jackson before the Easter recess on April 11.
