Senators poised to grill Biden's U.S. Supreme Court pick Jackson

[March 22, 2022]  By Moira Warburton, Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Joe Biden's nominee to become the first Black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, on Tuesday begins two days of questioning by senators at her confirmation hearing, with some Republicans signaling aggressive lines of attack.

After listening to Senate Judiciary Committee members deliver their opening statements on Monday, Jackson sought to emphasize faith and patriotism in her own statement, saying she has lived a life "blessed beyond measure." She also highlighted her independence as a jurist and her duty to decide cases "without fear or favor."

Jackson, who has served since last year as a federal appellate judge after eight years as a federal district court judge, noted that her parents grew up in the era of racial segregation in the South but taught her that "if I worked hard and believed in myself, in America I could do anything or be anything I wanted to be."

Biden as a candidate in 2020 pledged to appoint a Black woman to the court. He nominated Jackson, 51, last month for a lifetime job on America's top judicial body to succeed retiring liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, setting up a confirmation battle in the closely divided Senate.

The committee's 22 members will have the opportunity to question Jackson on Tuesday and Wednesday, with outside experts testifying on Thursday's final day of the hearing.

Democrats on Monday hailed the historic nature of her selection and praised her record as a federal appellate and district court judge. While some Republicans promised respect and praised Jackson's qualifications, others attacked her record, sought to link her to advocacy groups on the left and tried to paint her as "soft on crime."

"I can only wonder: what's your hidden agenda?" asked Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn. "Is it to let violent criminals, cop killers and child predators back to the streets?"

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is seated during a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 21, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
 

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, the committee's chairman, said attacks on Jackson's approach to criminal justice issues are baseless and amount to a Republican campaign theme for the November congressional elections. Durbin noted that law enforcement organizations including the Fraternal Order of Police have endorsed Jackson's nomination.

If confirmed, she would be the 116th justice to serve on the high court, the sixth woman and the third Black person. With Jackson on the bench, the court for the first time would have four women and two Black justices.

Biden's fellow Democrats narrowly control the Senate, which has the authority under the U.S. Constitution to confirm a president's judicial appointments. A simple majority vote is needed for confirmation, meaning Jackson would get the job if all Democrats are united regardless of what Republicans do in a Senate divided 50-50 between the two parties.

The Senate previously confirmed Jackson to three posts including last year, when Biden nominated her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Jackson was raised in Miami and attended Harvard Law School, later serving as a Supreme Court clerk for Breyer and representing criminal defendants who could not afford a lawyer.

Her confirmation would not change the ideological balance of the Supreme Court, whose 6-3 conservative majority includes three justices appointed by Biden's Republican predecessor Donald Trump. But it would let Biden freshen the court's liberal bloc with a justice young enough to serve for decades.

(Moira Warburton, Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham)

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