I’ve been watching and listening sporadically to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearings on U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, and, like most Democrats, I’ve been appalled at the tactics several Republican senators have taken, attempting to paint her as soft on child-porn offenders.
The critics have held up prepared posters listing cases where Judge Jackson sentenced offenders to less time than sentencing guidelines called for — which apparently happens in a majority of all child-porn cases and probably all criminal cases — and they’ve harped on the issue ad nauseam.
It appears to me one Republican goal is to pull away either Sen. Joe Manchin or Sen. Kyrsten Sinema from the Democratic wall of support, while trusting that all 50 Republican senators will oppose her when the nomination comes up for a vote.
I don’t think the Republican tactic is going to work. In fact, I’m predicting that at least two Republican senators — Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — will vote for her, just as they did when the Senate approved Judge Jackson last year for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals D.C. Circuit.
In any event, it was gratifying and inspiring to hear Sen. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) this afternoon give a stirring speech that elevated Judge Jackson and made her detractors look like worms.
Booker’s speech went on for almost 20 minutes. Toward the end Judge Jackson was dabbing a tissue at her eyes.
Booker began by quoting from a National Review article about the hearings. The National Review is a very conservative publication that has been criticizing Judge Jackson with gusto. But the article that Booker focused on, written by Andrew C. McCarthy, called out Hawley for trying to appeal to people’s prejudices and emotions rather than sticking to her judicial philosophy, which McCarthy believes is her greatest vulnerability.
McCarthy dismissed Hawley’s allegation that Judge Jackson is soft on child-porn offenders, saying the argument “appears meritless to the point of demagoguery.”
From there, here are excerpts of Booker’s speech…
You have sat with grit and grace and have shown us just extraordinary demeanor…This (harping on child pornography issue) is a new low. What’s especially surprising about this is it didn’t happen last year (when the Senate approved her for the D.C. Circuit). You were put on a court that I’m told is considered the second most important court in our land. And you were passed with bipartisan support. Nobody brought it up then. Did they not do their homework? Were they lax? Did they make a mistake? I wonder if they regret that…But they didn’t bring that out. No. Why? Because it was an allegation that was meritless to the point of demagoguery.
You are a mainstream judge. Your sentencing — I’ve looked at the data -– falls in the mainstream on everything from child sexual assault to all the other issues that people are trying to bring up…There is an absurdity to this that is almost comical if it wasn’t so dangerous.
Are you soft on crime? God bless America…You were endorsed by the largest organization of rank and file police officers (the Fraternal Order of Police). You were endorsed by the bosses, the largest organization of chiefs of police (the International Association of Chiefs of Police.)
You and your family speak to service, service service. And I’m telling you right now I’m not letting anybody in the Senate steal my joy. I told you this at the beginning…I just look at you and I start getting full of emotion.
You did not get here because of some left-wing agenda. You didn’t get here because of some dark-money groups. You got here how every Black woman in America who has gotten anywhere has done — by being…like Ginger Rogers said, “I did everything Fred Astaire did but did it backwards in heels.”
And so I’m sittin’ here saying nobody’s stealing my joy…I’m not going to let my joy be stolen.
You have earned this spot. You are worthy. You are a great American. Today you’re my star. You are my harbinger of hope. This country is getting better and better and better. And when that final vote happens and you ascend onto the highest court in the land, I’m going to rejoice. And I’m going to tell you right now the greatest country in the world –- the United States of America — will be better because of you.
Thank you.
With that, Committee Chairman Dick Durbin declared a break.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
I like Cory Booker.
Amen, Cory.
And during commercial breaks, we get to hear Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler air her homophobia train horn as she chases after an open Senate seat. What is it about human sexuality that so titilates Republicans?
You may not like the questions, but they all relate to her record as a judge and her legal philosophy. No one is trying to make up phony allegations about frat parties that occurred 30 years ago or any of the other ludicrous attempts to defame the conservative nominees that have come before the Senate. As for Spartacus…
Today, the American Bar Association rated Judge Jackson “well qualified” to serve on the Supreme Court.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/24/ketanji-brown-jackson-supreme-court-hearing-live-updates/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3665716%2F623c957b3e6ed13ade38f97c%2F59a5aa809bbc0f706bb6d389%2F13%2F72%2F623c957b3e6ed13ade38f97c
That doesn’t mean she’s bad. I don’t know why everyone gets so excited. She’s going to be confirmed and we all know how she’s going to vote. That’s why the court has become such a cruel joke There is no objectivity or rationality to it just 9 more predictable clowns in DC screwing the country up.
Why the hell are there 22 members on the Judiciary Committee? That’s more than 20 percent of the Senate. It’s at least 10 too many. With 22, it makes these judicial hearings far too long and nothing more than sound-off time for senators playing to their constituencies.
Bingo. Welcome to the circus. Has anything happened that surprised you?
Surprised? Sen. Marsha Blackburn claiming that our right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” is in the Constitution, but not a right to abortion. Oh, wait. That doesn’t surprise me that the Tennessee fence post has the Declaration of Independence confused with the Constitution, that she’s on the Judiciary Committee yet doesn’t know the difference between the two and that she thinks habeas corpus is a town on the Gulf Coast of Texas. GOP likes to have their sharpest minds on key committees. Makes them look brilliant.