Running the gauntlet


I knew that Ketanji Brown Jackson was a good choice when I saw this illustration:

Not shown is possibly the most important qualification: she isn’t the choice of the Federalist Society.

But I also made a prediction to myself, that the hearings over her appointment were going to be a kangaroo court. Her qualifications don’t matter. She’s black. The Republicans were going to go for blood. Of course they did: Josh Hawley immediately accused her of being soft on pedophiles.

The pedophilia smear put the lie to Republicans’ assurances that they would conduct the hearings with dignity.

“We won’t try to turn this into a spectacle,” proposed Sen. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), the committee’s ranking Republican.

“It won’t be a circus,” promised Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.).

Even Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.), a regular ringmaster, said “this will not be a political circus.”

Then the clown car rolled in. Republicans used their opening statements to portray Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to the high court, as not just a pedophile enabler but also a terrorist sympathizer with a “hidden agenda” to indoctrinate Americans with the “racist vitriol” of critical race theory.

Then the assholes opened their sphincters.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) scolded Jackson, a former public defender, for the way she represented “people who have committed terrorist acts against the United States,” saying her “zealous advocacy has gone beyond the pale.”

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) seemed to be trying to associate the nominee with a host of evils in an inchoate tirade about “anarchists, rioters and left-wing street militias,” the “breakdown of society,” and “Soros prosecutors” who “destroy our criminal justice system from within.”

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), the final Republican to speak, accused Jackson of providing “free legal services to help terrorists get out of Gitmo and go back to the fight,” supporting “the radical left’s attempt to pack the Supreme Court” and harboring a “hidden agenda … to let violent criminals, cop killers and child predators back to the streets.”

A further prediction: in the final vote, the Republicans will be in lockstep to deny a highly qualified person a seat on the court.

We really need to destroy that political party. Those named Republican senators above, and many more, are a national disgrace, every one of them.

Comments

  1. fernando says

    Why that man has his participation in a college fraternity like something equivalent to a college graduation?
    I find it quite odd.

  2. says

    How does someone with only 10 years’ worth of legal practice end up on the highest court’s bench? Oh…right.

    They really are the party of Russia: accusing the opposition of everything they themselves are guilty of…

  3. christoph says

    The accusations of being soft on pedophiles and terrorists were all over the news, but I haven’t heard any details about the accusations. Did the repubs give any examples? Sounds like she just didn’t accept the sentencing guidelines for the former and wanted a fair trial for the latter.

  4. microraptor says

    Anyone who supported Barrett’s nomination has no business questioning the qualifications of any Supreme Court nominee.

  5. Susan Montgomery says

    I think there’s a good chance they’ll confirm her. What better way is there to squeeze even more cash out of the rubes than to get them shitting their pants over a black woman with power?

  6. whywhywhy says

    #5 Susan Montgomery
    The Republicans will all vote against confirmation, but it won’t matter if the Dems (yeah I’m looking at you Manchin) all vote to confirm. It is possible that Romney votes with the Dems but I doubt it.

  7. Artor says

    My prediction: Manchin and Sinema refuse to support Jackson, and her appointment is rejected.

  8. Susan Montgomery says

    @6 it’s highly likely that both Manchin and Sinema will vote against – black women are “divisive” and we can’t have that – but the GOP are lucky to have a base completely divorced from reality. They could all vote for her and then blame the media and/or the Illuminati or whatever and be in the clear.

  9. Ted Lawry says

    If big business and billionaires always get their way, they won’t need the GOP anymore. Politicians are reminded of this fact everyday, since they spend most of their time fund raising.

  10. StevoR says

    Just imagine if “” I like Beer ” Justice Kavanaugh or Amy Comey handmaid Of-Barrett had been appointed by Democratic Presidents and if they’s held the opposite political views tothsoe they really do (& lied about?) and, oh yeah, been non-white..

  11. Walter Solomon says

    Her credentials and experience mean nothing to the Republicans. The only thing that’s truly “beyond the pale” to them is the audacity of nominating a Black woman to the SCOTUS.

    Some good news is that Thomas doesn’t seem to have much time left on the bench. Hopefully the Dino-In-Chief has more in his tank than Uncle Thomas and will able to replace him with a better justice.