By Thomas Clark
After receiving the news that Justice Stephen Breyer was intending on retiring after serving for more than 27 years on the court; it was up to President Joe Biden to nominate a replacement for his seat. Since then President Biden has nominated United States Circuit Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
This nomination of Jackson comes after Biden promised on his campaign that if he received the opportunity to appoint a justice to the Supreme Court that it would be a Black woman stating in a recording, “The person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience and integrity. And that person will be the first Black woman
ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court. It’s long overdue in my view.”
We need to understand that Jackson is every single word of his statement in the recording no matter what anybody tries to state. Prior to her serving on the Circuit Court she has also served on the District Court of the District of Columbia; and according to the judiciary senate website, “She additionally has prior experience as a vice chair and commissioner of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, as a federal public defender, as a lawyer in private practice, and as a law clerk at all three levels of the federal Judiciary, including for Justice Breyer.”
A topic for discussion however has been the court hearings to be approved as a Supreme Court Judge and the criticism she has faced. Going most viral from the hearings as of this date was Senator Ted Cruz and his seemingly ridiculous questions about books that are present in the school that she serves on the board are just another reminder – the conservatives in power believe in two sets of standards for those “playing on the different team” and will use anything to get their way.
Notably, Senator Josh Hawley claims that Jackson has a “long record” of under sentencing convicted child pornography offenders. Hawley has then stated that sentencing under the federal guidelines for convicted felons is unacceptable, and claimed he has not approved of any judges in any position that have sentenced under the federal guideline for the same convictions; however he has approved three judges, Judges Bianco, Brasher and Judge Nichols of the DC District Court were those approved by Hawley.
Now to the claims that Hawley has made, these are correct, however, according to Doug Berman, a leading expert on sentencing law and policy at The Ohio State University School of Law he states that given the context of her cases her rulings have been “pretty mainstream.” Hawley has also gone after Jackson for advocating for eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for child porn, but the three Republican appointees also have the same position. From these claims to Cruz asking questions about a book about being anit-racist, to Senator Lindsay Graham questioning Jackson’s faith and asking how she felt if put in the position one of the last Supreme Court Justice hopeful Judge Brett Kavanuagh’s position one thing is revealed; these Republican senators do not have a constant belief system and will turn to petty attacks in an attempt to bring down the character and the body of work of an established and qualified judge.
Photo via Flickr
