Supreme Court: Republicans grill Ketanji Brown Jackson as Trump Jr attacks on Twitter

In one of the moments that diverted most wildly from the topic at hand, Sen Lindsey Graham went on a tangent on Wednesday about Janice Rogers Brown, a Black judge from Alabama who later rose to be on the California Supreme Court.

During his remarks, Mr Graham appeared to be complaining about the GOP not receiving credit for allegedly considering Ms Brown for a position on the highest court — a position for which his party never nominated her, even when given three opportunities under the Trump administration.

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Sen Alex Padilla closed out his questioning on Wednesday by stressing how the week’s grueling hearings had revealed her ability to remain cool in high-pressure situations.

Mr Padilla highlighted both the questions from his colleagues that were uncontroversial as well as the criticism leveled by members like Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz that has itself been roundly denounced by both Democrats and even members of their own party like Mitt Romney.

“I’ve seen a number of my colleagues engage in good faith”, he said, while adding that others chose to engage in criticism that he noted “even conservative commentators have called ‘meritless to the point of demagoguery’”.

In a moving moment Wednesday afternoon, Sen Alex Padilla asked Ketanji Brown Jackson about what her message to young Americans would be today, as she awaits a historic confirmation vote for her nomination to the Supreme Court.

Her answer was emotional itself, and referenced a memory from her first year at Harvard University.

“I try to inspire people to follow this path...because I love this country, because I love the law,” she told Mr Padilla.

“I was walking through Harvard Yard my freshman year...a Black woman I did not know was passing on the sidewalk, and she looked at me, and I guess she knew how I was feeling, and she leaned over as we crossed, and she said, ‘persevere.’ I would tell them to persevere,” she continued.

Sen Marsha Blackburn accused Ketanji Brown Jackson of being unwilling to answer questions about what defines a biological woman, which the judge previously said she would leave to doctors or biologists to define.

Ms Blackburn also questioned Ms Jackson about issues that are currently before the court system, which Ms Jackson could not answer for the reason of avoiding touching on topics inappropriate for a nominee to engage with.

Ketanji Brown Jackson left the Senate on Wednesday after a more than 10-hour session that included just one break for lunch; she will return on Thursday for a final, closed-door section to discuss her background investigation.

Ms Jackson’s hearings concluded after two days of brutal questioning from Republicans, some of whom remained focused on her judicial record while others tried to broach personal issues and unrelated topics.

The committee’s chair, Dick Durbin, admonished his Republican colleagues as the hearing ended for the “exceptions” that occurred to GOP ranking member Chuck Grassley’s promise to keep the hearings civil.

As day 3 of Ketanji Brown Jackson’s drew to a close, it became clear that some Republicans on the panel were interested in trying to smear Judge Jackson as having a soft spot for paedophiles while ignoring that her sentences typically fell within the norms.

Sen Dick Durbin, the committee chairman, even knocked his colleagues for treating the hearings like an “opportunity to showcase talking points for the November election”.

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The Republican National Committee issued a statement late Wednesday evening after the final public hearing for Ketanji Brown Jackson wrapped up, labeling the judge as a “radical” and disparaging her work as a public defender.

The party falsely accused her of “advocating on behalf of known terrorists” and referred to her as “one of the most radical nominees to ever be considered for the highest court in the land”.

Republicans who actually interacted with her on Capitol Hill this week pursued far more subtle lines of criticism, though a few including Lindsey Graham, Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz and Marsha Blackburn attacked her personal beliefs and broached into topics unrelated to her judicial record.

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes said on Wednesday as public hearing for Ketanji Brown Jackson wrapped up that Republicans on the panel had attempted to link the first Black woman nominated to the Court in the nation’s history to random statements from unrelated Black individuals.

Mr Hayes accused the GOP of attempting to tie Ms Jackson to any public figures “that also happen to be Black" for the purpose of ginning up controversy and stoking racist anger.

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More than half of Americans think Ketanji Brown Jackson should be confirmed to the Supreme Court as her confirmation hearings take place this week before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

A Gallup poll taken over March found that 58 per cent of respondents supported her confirmation, while under a third opposed it.

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