OPINION: The Incredible Disapointment of Kentanji Brown Jackson Hearing

Photo+Credit%3A+Wikimedia+Commons

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Makayla Montreal, OwlFeed News Reporter

Nominated to the Supreme Court by President Biden himself, Kentanji Brown Jackson, is a woman of the law whose credentials cannot be questioned. She was a graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Law School.

After four long days of Kentanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearing, it has been quite devastating to see high officials (some of whom have a law degree) use hypotheticals to try and sabotage her hearing, asking questions that have nothing to do with being a Supreme Court justice like, “Do you agree with this book …that babies are racist?”

After this mind blowing question asked by Senator Ted Cruz who, believe it or not, has a law degree, Jackson replied with a deep sigh that she doesn’t “believe that any child should be made to feel as though they are racist or not valued, or less than, that they are victims, oppressors… [and] I have not reviewed any of those books.” 

After Cruz refused to give up this topic, she added: “They don’t come up in my work as a judge, which I am respectfully here to address.”

 Along with this, another very ill-conceived question is concocted and thrown out by Senator Cruz. Cruz decidedly hones in on a hot issue the Republican party likes to pick at, critical race theory. 

Critical race theory is a cross-disciplinary intellectual and social movement of civil-rights scholars and activists who seek to examine the intersection of race, society, and law in the United States and to challenge mainstream American liberal approaches to racial justice. The fact is that he focused on this mainly and directed his questions to a black woman and revealed the severity of using a “racial dog-whistle.” 

Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock called him out on this as he questioned if they would “be asking these questions if this were not a black woman.”

Another embarrassing moment yet again for the Republican party occurred when Senator Lindsey Graham made a false accusation by accusing Jackson of calling George W. Bush and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld “war criminals.” 

Judge Jackson responded: “I don’t remember that particular reference…I did not intend to disparage the president or the secretary of defense.” This has been fact checked and these accusations have been false.

Republican Senator John Cornyn followed up on Twitter and stated, “Today I asked Judge Jackson why in the world she would accuse Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and George W. Bush of being war criminals in a legal filing. Democrats claim she never said such a thing.”

After all these outrageous remarks directed towards Ketanji Brown Jackson, Democratic Senator Jon Osoff threw a little shade at the Republican senators who asked very hypothetical questions. “I was considering asking you if you were a coffee or a tea drinker, but I thought that might be too personal and immaterial to the question of your nomination” Osoff said.

This was a very disappointing hearing. Judge Jackson was not given the right to a fair hearing as most of the questions just did not pertain to her as a Supreme Court judge. Jackson deserved more than what happened in that hearing and it’s very disappointing for the justice system and makes the whole U.S. Congress look bad.

I think we can all agree that most of these people should not be in the Senate and there should be a limit on terms. If we continue to let these seemingly professional officials embarrass us with these outrageous questions, nothing is going to progress.

In the end, Kentanji Brown Jackson was fully prepared and had amazing credentials. These hypothetical and stereotypical/racially critical questions were made to demean her and her job qualifications. 

What happened to her was completely out of her control and she is such a strong woman with being patient and remaining professional throughout the whole thing. No matter what happened, she kept her composure and responded with very intelligent answers.