On the fourth and final day of hearings to confirm President Joe Biden’s nominee for the US Supreme Court, legal experts praised Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and said she was more than qualified to serve on the nation’s highest court.
Testimonies from representatives of the American Bar Association (ABA) and other experts followed two days of interrogation by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and concluded approximately 30 hours of hearings on Jackson’s nomination.
Ann Claire Williams of the ABA, who chairs the organization’s committee that makes recommendations on federal judges, noted in her testimony that virtually everyone she interviewed described Jackson as “outstanding, excellent, superior, outstanding.”
Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Jackson about her nine years as a federal judge, often interrupting their responses with claims that she had handed out light sentences on sex offenders, which they felt was far from the truth.
On Thursday, just hours after the hearings ended, Republican Senate Chairman Mitch McConnell announced he would vote against Jackson’s confirmation. The senator assured in a speech before the plenary that he could not support her for a lifetime appointment: “I can’t and I won’t”
Others have cited various reasons for voting against him, from his support for liberal groups to his socalled “legal philosophy”.
The fourhour hearing on Thursday was attended not only by legal experts, but also by government officials and civil rights groups who supported Jackson. the first nominated black woman in court, as well as other conservative advocates who opposed it.
The Senate committee is expected to vote on Jackson’s nomination on April 4. Democrats hope to hold a final confirmation vote by Easter in midApril, when the Senate takes a twoweek break.
With information from The Associated Press and Reuters.
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