Senate confirmation hearings offer up absurdist theater of partisan politics
Throughout the entire history of the American Supreme Court, there have been 115 associate and chief justices nominated to such an honorary role. None of those 115 justices are African American women. That will soon change following the confirmation of Harvard University graduate and soon-to-be Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a proud and remarkable moment in the history of this nation - and a long overdue one at that. One could assume that such a groundbreaking event would be met with resounding enthusiasm from elected officials. Unfortunately, that’s not how the American political climate operates.
Some Republican senators became so absurdly obsessed with Jackson’s personal opinions concerning Critical Race Theory during her confirmation hearing that this topic, completely disassociated with the judicial position she was nominated for, dominated their permitted 30-minute questioning. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), found it relevant to the candidate to use his interrogation period to talk about a children’s book he found called “Antiracist Baby.” “Do you agree… that babies are racist?” Cruz questioned in an actual, real-life Supreme Court justice confirmation hearing. Yes, your tax dollars are paying this man to ask such hard-hitting questions.
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who led the movement against Jackson, voted to confirm her as a judge for the District of Columbia appellate court in 2021, but flipped the script during her nomination to the Supreme Court by emphatically defaming her as an “activist judge.” One of Graham and his movement’s chief attacks alleged leniency on consumers of sexually abusive content containing children by the nominee, but various sources have confirmed that Jackson has repeatedly followed common, uncontested, and bi-partisan sentencing practices during scrutiny of such cases. The assault on Jackson as a candidate was exhaustingly ill-informed, to say the least.
Graham admitted during his no-vote on the Senate floor that he “finds Judge Jackson to be a person of exceptionally good character… and someone who has worked hard to achieve her current position.” Other members of Jackson’s opposition, like Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) declared Jackson as a candidate who “has a marvelous legal education” and “a vast practical experience, which [he thought] to be a real plus.” With the principle arguments against Jackson deconstructed and high praise on behalf of her chief political opponents noted, there exists little concrete concern regarding her nomination. That being said, Justice-elect Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed by the Senate by a shockingly close majority of 53-47, a continuation of a frighteningly partisan trend within the last six years regarding SCOTUS confirmation votes. To put it into perspective, the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was confirmed with a vote of 96-3 in 1993. Supreme Court confirmations haven’t broken a 54% majority since 2010.
Graham and Cruz’s movement to deny Jackson a seat on the Supreme Court bench is nothing more than the latest effort to fortify partisanism in American politics. Another nail in the coffin of compromise and another tear on the cheek of the populous. Well, if all of this information puts you in a similar state of nihilism and distress as it has myself, just look on the bright side of this whole ordeal: we now know whether or not Justice Jackson thinks babies are inherently racist.
By Hunter Willis
Oshkosh West Index Volume 118 Issue VII
April 25th, 2022