22 March 2022 - Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court confirmation hearing
Takeaways from Ketanji Brown Jackson's first day of Supreme Court confirmation hearings
Tierney Sneed and Lauren Fox (CNN, 22/03/2022)
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court confirmation hearings kicked off Monday with more than four hours of speeches from senators, introductions of Jackson by two of her colleagues and remarks from the nominee herself.
Jackson's opening statement touched on her humble background and the gratitude she felt toward those who have boosted her legal ascent. She and her supporters emphasized the "independent" approach she brings to the bench, while Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats argued her confirmation will make the high court more reflective of the country it serves.
Marsha Blackburn Lectures First Black Woman Nominated to Supreme Court on ‘So-Called’ White Privilege
Ryan Bort (Rolling Stone, 21/03/2022)
The confirmation hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson began on Monday and, as expected, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee were a little concerned about President Biden’s pick to replace Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) went so far as to suggest to Jackson, a Black woman, that white privilege doesn’t exist in America, a country where of the 114 justices to have been confirmed to sit on the highest court in the land, only two have been Black.
“You serve on the board of a school that teaches kindergartners, five-year-old children, that they can choose their gender, and that teaches them about so-called white privilege,” Blackburn said after bashing the “radical left.”
Why Ketanji Brown Jackson’s time as a public defender matters
Fabiola Cineas (Vox, 21/03/2022)
The last two times that Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson went through the Senate confirmation process, one part of her résumé drew particular scrutiny from Republicans: her work as a federal public defender.
“I have questions about your views on the rights of detainees, and that in turn causes some concern about how you will handle terrorism cases that may come before you if you are confirmed,” Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) said at a hearing in 2012, when Jackson, now President Joe Biden’s nominee to replace Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court, was confirmed as a federal district court judge.
Ketanji Brown Jackson's path to the Supreme Court
Ariana de Vogue (CNN, 25/02/2022)
As President Joe Biden rifled through binders filled with pages of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's qualifications as a part of his decision-making process, he also focused on something as valuable as her sparkling resume: her life story.
Biden, a man who often harkens back to his own working class Irish Catholic roots, studied the path taken by Jackson, who knew where she was headed as a 17-year-old in Miami.
"I want to go into law and eventually have a judicial appointment," she wrote in her high school yearbook in an uncanny example of intuitive flash.