WASHINGTON —
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is facing questioning Tuesday from members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee as the lawmakers consider her nomination for a seat on the Supreme Court.
The lawmakers will each have 30 minutes to question Jackson, who was nominated to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer. The second of four days of scheduled hearings is expected to last from morning until evening.
As the confirmation process began Monday, committee members revealed that their treatment of Jackson would break along partisan lines, with Democrats highlighting her qualifications and Republicans raising questions about her record.
Currently a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Jackson is the first Black woman, and only the third Black person overall, to be tapped for a seat on the nation's highest court.
The first day of hearings consisted of the roughly twenty members of the committee delivering opening statements, as did Jackson herself. Some lawmakers used those statements to praise Jackson or to make broad statements about their feelings about the role of the Supreme Court in U.S. society. Others used their time to telegraph the sort of questions they will ask Jackson during the second and third days of hearings.
The hearing Monday, which lasted nearly five hours, was merely a warm-up. On Tuesday, each member will get 30 minutes to question the nominee, in a process expected to last from morning until evening.
The most senior members on the committee, on both sides of the aisle, made sure to praise Jackson's service as a judge, which began with her confirmation in 2013 to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She has also served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission; worked as a public defender; clerked for more senior judges, including current Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, whom she has been designated to replace; and worked in private practice.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, a Democrat, used his opening statement to point out the historic nature of her nomination.
"In its more than 230 years, the Court has had 115 justices," he said. "One hundred and eight have been white men. Just two justices have been men of color. Only five women have served on the Court — and just one woman of color. Not a single justice has been a Black woman. You, Judge Jackson, can be the first."
Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, the Senate's longest-serving member, noted that he has participated in the confirmation of 20 other Supreme Court justices in his tenure, saying, "In Judge Jackson, I have found a distinguished nominee with an unassailable record that merits our respect, regardless of party."
Leahy added, "Despite all the darkness in the world and the political brinksmanship that has unfortunately become a hallmark of Congress in recent years, your nomination fills me with hope — hope for the Court, hope for the rule of law, hope for the country."
Senator Chuck Grassley, the most senior Republican on the panel, pledged to "conduct a thorough, exhaustive examination of Judge Jackson's record and views."
Members of his party, he said, will "ask tough questions about Judge Jackson's judicial philosophy. In any Supreme Court nomination, the most important thing we look for is the nominee's view of the law, judicial philosophy and view on the role of a judge. I'll be looking to see whether Judge Jackson is committed to the Constitution as originally understood."
Republican Senator Lindsay Graham promised that the hearings would be "challenging" for Jackson. However, he spent much of his time criticizing Democrats' treatment of recent Supreme Court justices nominated by Republicans, specifically current Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whose hearing in 2018 was marked by allegations of sexual assault decades in the past.
Pledging that members of his party would not personalize the hearings, he added, "You're the beneficiary of Republican nominees having their lives turned upside down."
Through their opening statements, Republicans on the panel signaled some of the areas of questioning that Jackson will likely face. Some were fairly general promises to probe her view of the proper role of the judiciary in the formation of public policy. Others were more specific.
Republican Senator John Cornyn said that he would raise the issue of Jackson's work defending terrorism suspects who were, at the time, detained at the U.S. military facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Jackson's representation of defendants there was part of her work as a federal public defender.