As Supreme Court confirmation hearings begin for Ketanji Brown Jackson, supporters rally in Washington
EXCLUSIVE: “I hope we pack the road so she will feel the wind beneath her wings with Black women," Congressional Black Caucus Chair Joyce Beatty tells theGrio.
The first day of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings before the United States Senate is finally here.
As the nation anticipates what could be a historical confirmation, women are rallying on Monday morning on Capitol Hill in support of Brown Jackson who, if confirmed, will become the first Black woman Supreme Court justice.
Leah Daughtry, the co-convener of Power Rising is hosting the rally–which will include marching bands, speakers and more–hours before Brown Jackson is set to give her opening remarks and subsequent responses to a line of questioning from Senate members of the Judiciary Committee.
Daughtry told theGrio this weekend this is “substance and symbolism” as “we watch the Supreme Court take a huge leap toward diversity and inclusion. The court has been in existence 233 years and we’ve never had a Black woman on the court…What this says is that our voices, our perspective, and our lives will be at the table of justice for the future.”
Though Democrats appear to have enough votes to confirm Brown Jackson without Republican support, she is expected to also pick up some GOP votes. If she is confirmed, Brown Jackson would begin her life tenure during the next Supreme Court session that begins Oct. 1. Brown Jackson would be replacing Justice Stephen Breyer who is leaving the bench at the end of this current Supreme Court session.
Monday begins the opening statements for Judge Brown Jackson, followed by what is expected to be a traditional 48 hours of questioning. After the questioning, there will be testimony from others followed by a vote by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. If that vote is in the affirmative for Judge Brown Jackson, there will be a full vote for the evenly divided 100-member Senate. Only 50 votes are required for her confirmation.
For this week’s history-making moment, Black Greek letter organizations, particularly sororities, are expected to also gather on the Hill in full support of Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Congressional Black Caucus Chair, Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, told theGrio, “I hope we pack the road so she will feel the wind beneath her wings with Black women.”
Beatty met with Jackson when she was making the rounds on the Hill looking for Democratic and Republican Senate support for her historic nomination.
“My heart is all full of excitement, full of hope, full of just rejoicing that this day has come true for America that we will have a Black woman in the highest court in the United States,” Beatty told theGrio.
“She has been preparing for this all her life. When you look at her skill sets, whether it’s academic, whether it is the cultural values that she will bring growing up as a little Black girl with parents who were public education teachers…[and] HBCU graduates.”
Beatty added, “She is so grounded–but she’s a scholar. Her credentials, I would personally say, are higher than most who are sitting there.”
While at the White House for the HBCU announcement on short-term terror prevention grants for HBCUs, Beatty told theGrio that Judge Brown Jackson, “had been preparing for this all her life.”
In the lead-up to the confirmation hearings, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Alexis McGill Johnson said in a statement, “Judge Jackson has already faced intense scrutiny despite her extensive legal career and expertise, and highly impressive credentials. During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, baseless attacks should not come in the form of racist, sexist vitriol on her character or experience.
She added, “Judge Jackson’s dedication to the rule of law and years of public service as a federal judge entitles her to a fair and respectful process. I look forward to hearing Judge Jackson share her experience as a public servant and judge with the Senate and the American people.”
However, with all the good thoughts and well wishes for the confirmation, there is a small storm brewing as Republicans have raised issues over Judge Brown Jackson’s various rulings, including one involving sex offenders.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki slammed the criticisms coming from the right during a press briefing last Thursday.
“There are [those] in the Senate who have made faulty accusations about Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s record and specifically about her record on child sex crimes, so let me just take the opportunity to clear that up — not that most people have confusion about it,” said Psaki, adding “in the vast majority of cases involving child sex crimes, the sentences Judge Jackson imposed were consistent with or above what the government or U.S. probation recommended.”
The spokesperson for President Joe Biden specifically called out Republican Senator Josh Hawley, accusing him of taking “a snippet of a transcript out of context” of Brown Jackson “repeating something a witness said in order to ask a question about their testimony.”
“So some who are accusing her of being, quote, ‘soft on crime’ also failed to note that what was omitted is a sentencing commission report that’s been touted out there, was unanimously supported by a bipartisan Sentencing Commission.
Preempting GOP pushback, Psaki reminded the public that Brown Jackson comes from a law enforcement family and has been endorsed by the nation’s leading law enforcement organizations.
“[She] devoted her career to standing up for the rule of law…attempts to smear or discredit her history and her work are not borne out in facts.”
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