More than a dozen witnesses will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday to argue for and against Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court on the fourth and final day of hearings that have focused on the jurist’s sentencing record from the federal bench.
Unlike on Tuesday and Wednesday, when Jackson underwent more than 20 hours of questioning from the committee’s 22 members, the DC appeals court judge is not expected to speak, or even be in the hearing room, during Thursday’s proceedings.
The witness list includes three members of the American Bar Association’s Standing Committing of the Federal Judiciary, which rated Jackson as “well qualified” for the Supreme Court last week.
Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) will also appear before the committee to argue in Jackson’s favor alongside University of Virginia law professor Risa Goluboff, Wade Henderson of the Leadership Conference on Civil Human Rights, appellate attorney Richard Rosenthal, and Capt. Frederick Thomas, head of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives.
A third panel of witnesses, who will argue against Jackson’s confirmation, include Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, George Mason University assistant law professor Jennifer Mascott, pro-life activist Eleanor McCullen, Keisha Russell of First Liberty and Alessandra Serano from anti-trafficking group Operation Underground Railroad.
Each witness will be given five minutes to deliver a statement and members of the committee will also have five minutes to ask questions.
Jackson grew increasingly frustrated with Republican members on the committee Wednesday as they continued to press the judge on a her sentences in a handful of child pornography cases.
At one point, when Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) asked if she regretted one of the penalties she handed down as being too lenient, Jackson shot back: “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.”
GOP members also clashed with chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) over access to pre-sentencing reports and probation officers’ sentencing recommendations from the cases in question.
Durbin rebuffed the Republicans’ request multiple times, calling it “a bridge too far for this committee” despite GOP members insisting they were vital to understanding Jackson’s thought process in handing down the sentences.
“We spent a lot of time here reflecting on these terrible crimes. Everyone has acknowledged how terrible they are, and how damaging they can be to the victims of crime story after story and I don’t question a single word that was spoken separately for the same victims,” Durbin said. “I would not want it weighing on my conscience that we are turning over these pre-sentence reports to this committee for the first time in history and that information out of this, because it was released, would somehow compromise or endanger any victim as a result of it.
“This information was not requested before, it’s never been requested by this committee,” he continued. “And I think we ought to think long and hard about whether or not we even consider going into pre-sentence reports.”
The committee will privately consider Jackson’s nomination Monday, with a vote on reporting her to the full Senate expected April 4. Democrats look to confirm the judge to the seat before the Senate breaks for the Easter recess in mid-April.
Jackson, who has previously been confirmed by the Senate to three federal posts, was nominated by President Biden last month to fill retiring Justice Stephan Breyer’s seat.
If confirmed, Jackson would be the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court. She would join the court for its next term starting this October.
Jackson does not represent American values,she is not worthy of being no nominated for SCOTUS
I Pray Congress votes a resounding No.!!!
very odd, african name jackson takes aim at her lack of proper approbate sentencing for crime. this is who she is, why would she be so defensive of her lack of ability. perhaps a search of the wood pile would produce a better qualified candidate.
She is NOT qualified!!!! Right up there with Knee-Pads!!!!
This is more than racist to the core for 2 reasons: Only blacks could be considered for the post & only FEMALE blacks. Since when did a supposed President decide that only blacks could be nominated for the position.
Welcome to FJB world, This is nothing but a three ring circus and I hope she isn’t confirmed
This is an extremely arrogant, falsely entitled and illegally selected Leftist black woman who is more evidence of the unjust black privilege seen daily in our corrupt, anti-American legal system. I think I understand why the “taped-mouthed” Republicans haven’t filed a Civil Rights Discrimination sue at the federal level for an “Emergency Hearing” (as the Left does daily) which SHOULD disqualify the Affirmative Action selection based upon the federal law which does NOT allow Obiden or anyone else to select an employee based solely upon sex and/or race to the exclusion of ALL other qualifying factors and it’s because the Soros-infested, Obama-appointed judges would NEVER allow the case to be heard, just like they did with the stolen 2020 election which had overwhelming evidence NOT a SINGLE court would allow to be heard or entered into evidence! An analogy would be if President Trump had repeatedly said on national television that ONLY WHITE MEN would be considered for a Supreme Court seat and just imagine how many Blue Ghettos would be torched non-stop by unemployed, uneducated Leftists Terrorists! If not for perpetual Hypocrisy, Demoncrats wouldn’t have any ethics or morals!!! This woman’s an embarrassment to the legal profession and has an unacceptable, abrasive attitude inconsistent with requirements of the position.
The problem is the Chairman of the Committee, Dick Durbin. He’s been in the Senate for 26 years. Did ever do anything for anyone but himself? The Democrats are unable to play on a level, flat playing field. If they can’t get something by corrupt means, then, they don’t really want it. The lady in question is an example of a far left liberal, she doesn’t know what a female is, she’s woke, in other words, unable to think for herself. To get anything done, she do it from the bench, but why? Because she doesn’t believe in the Bill of Rights and our Constitution, or even the rule of law. How can she sit on the Supreme Court knowing that the only reason she may haven gotten there was because of 1) her race and 2) her gender. Wow, talk about pulling from the bottom of the barrel. I was taught that to become a Justice on the Supreme Court was based on a person’s abilities and intelligence, but not on their gender or sex. But then again, only the Democrats would look at gender and race and if you’re not colored and a female, you’re not qualified, it doesn’t matter if you’re dumber than crap and have the abilities of a slug.
After all the info came out, Jackson is Not a good fit for the Supreme Court Justice. If she is elected to office then we the Citizens of the USA will know the truth about appointments.
It is obvious to anyone with a brain that Biden’s pick for the Supreme Court is not a normal human being with any sense of justice. If she can’t define what a woman is, she has less brains than a five year old. Do we put children on the Supreme Court if the USA?? Everyone who voted for her is also in the same category. We know what’s going on here! The trashing of the USA. We need to revolt!