Confirmation Hearings Conclude for Supreme Court Nominee, Federal Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson
posted by Jacqueline Leibman | March 29, 2022 | In NewsA statement released on February 25 by The White House announced President Biden’s nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve as the 116th Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
After four long days, Jackson’s nomination hearings in the Senate came to a close last Thursday.
This nomination came after Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement announcement, as reported by NBC News on January 26, after 27 years on the court. The statement states that the President “sought an individual who is committed to equal justice under the law and who understands the profound impact that the Supreme Court’s decisions have on the lives of the American people.” If confirmed, Jackson will be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court.
In her opening statement, Jackson stated, “I decide cases from a neutral posture. I evaluate the facts, and I interpret and apply the law to the facts of the case before me, without fear or favor, consistent with my judicial oath.”
Jackson has been accused by GOP members—specifically Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri—for being “soft on crime.” The accusation stems from a 2013 case in which Wesley Hawkins, 18 at the time, was found to be in possession of nearly two dozen images and movie files containing child pornography.
CBS News reports that the federal government recommended Hawkins to be incarcerated for 24 months, in which Jackson lowered the incarceration to three months followed by 73 months of supervised release.
Jackson rebutted Sen. Hawley’s claims, stating that she found the sentence “sufficient, but not greater than necessary.”
“Your view of how to deter child pornography is not my view,” Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Jackson. “I think you are doing it wrong and every judge who does what you are doing is making it easier for the children to be exploited.”
On the final day of hearings, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony from the American Bar Association, as well as outside witnesses, NPR reported. Representatives from the American Bar Association gave credit to Jackson’s character and workplace ethics: “The question we kept asking ourselves: How does one human being do so much, so extraordinarily well?” retired Judge Ann Claire Williams as reported by NPR.
The next phase of the confirmation hearing is the committee vote which will occur on April 4. Afterwards, a final Senate floor vote will take place. The date is currently not scheduled. CNN reports that Senate Democratic leaders “have hope to have a vote confirming Jackson before their Easter recess.”
GOP members were asked if there were plans to boycott the Senate Judiciary vote, to which Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) said, “Zero. Nada. Zip.” Tillis added that a boycott is “never going to happen.”
When asked of his opinions regarding the hearings, CNN reported Tillis was “satisfied with requests for information on Jackson’s child porn case sentencing decisions — even as other conservatives have pushed for more.”
Judge Jackson was born in Washington, D.C. Both of her parents attended HBCUs, and her father was also a lawyer. Jackson would later receive her education at Harvard University and Harvard Law School. Jackson lives in D.C. with her husband and two daughters.
Photo courtesy of Lloyd DeGrane
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