The Senate Judiciary Committee began four days of confirmation hearings for this 51-year-old jurist, nominated by the president Joe Biden, who just before the start published a tweet in which he highlighted his “brilliant” mind and his “great character and integrity”.
“She deserves to be confirmed as the next Supreme Court Justice,” he adds. “I ask the members of this committee, as we begin this historic confirmation process, to consider how history will judge each senator,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin said during the opening.
Senate hearings for Supreme Court nominees have become a partisan battleground in recent years, between Republicans and Democrats. “Each appointment of the court is significant because many issues are decided in it” and many are burning social issues that move votes or motivate voters, “such as abortion or gun rights, said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.
The Supreme Court will continue to be dominated by conservatives.
Jackson would replace another liberal justice, Stephen Breyer, who is retiring at 83. His confirmation, Sabato said, will not change the balance of forces in the court, dominated by a 6-3 conservative majority.. “That alone lowers the risks and should make for easier confirmation,” she said.
The Democrats, with a slight advantage, have the votes to confirm Jackson, a lawyer graduated from the prestigious Harvard University, who practiced as a federal public defender for indigent clients. The 100-member Senate is split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans. Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris has the break vote.
Several Republican parliamentarians have criticized Biden for choosing a black woman for the court, one of his campaign promises. “Black women are, what, six percent of the population of the United States?” said Sen. Ted Cruz. “You’re telling 94 percent of Americans ‘I don’t care.'”
Jackson presents “impeccable” credentials
Jackson, however, has impeccable credentials, so another Republican senator, Susan Collins of Maine, warned her colleagues to tread carefully. “Since the Democrats, Unfortunately, they have had some success trying to paint Republicans as anti-Black, it may make it more difficult to turn down a Black female jurist,” Collins said.
A frontal assault on Jackson could backfire on Republicans seven months before midterm congressional elections.
But Senator Josh Hawley, a conservative from Missouri, has done so, lashing out at what he calls “an alarming pattern” in how the judge has handled sex offender cases, “especially those that prey on children.”
Jackson has drawn support from several police unions, which tend to lean to the right.
The Senate Judiciary Committee began four days of confirmation hearings for this 51-year-old jurist, nominated by the president Joe Biden, who just before the start published a tweet in which he highlighted his “brilliant” mind and his “great character and integrity”.
“She deserves to be confirmed as the next Supreme Court Justice,” he adds. “I ask the members of this committee, as we begin this historic confirmation process, to consider how history will judge each senator,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin said during the opening.
Senate hearings for Supreme Court nominees have become a partisan battleground in recent years, between Republicans and Democrats. “Each appointment of the court is significant because many issues are decided in it” and many are burning social issues that move votes or motivate voters, “such as abortion or gun rights, said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.
The Supreme Court will continue to be dominated by conservatives.
Jackson would replace another liberal justice, Stephen Breyer, who is retiring at 83. His confirmation, Sabato said, will not change the balance of forces in the court, dominated by a 6-3 conservative majority.. “That alone lowers the risks and should make for easier confirmation,” she said.
The Democrats, with a slight advantage, have the votes to confirm Jackson, a lawyer graduated from the prestigious Harvard University, who practiced as a federal public defender for indigent clients. The 100-member Senate is split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans. Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris has the break vote.
Several Republican parliamentarians have criticized Biden for choosing a black woman for the court, one of his campaign promises. “Black women are, what, six percent of the population of the United States?” said Sen. Ted Cruz. “You’re telling 94 percent of Americans ‘I don’t care.'”
Jackson presents “impeccable” credentials
Jackson, however, has impeccable credentials, so another Republican senator, Susan Collins of Maine, warned her colleagues to tread carefully. “Since the Democrats, Unfortunately, they have had some success trying to paint Republicans as anti-Black, it may make it more difficult to turn down a Black female jurist,” Collins said.
A frontal assault on Jackson could backfire on Republicans seven months before midterm congressional elections.
But Senator Josh Hawley, a conservative from Missouri, has done so, lashing out at what he calls “an alarming pattern” in how the judge has handled sex offender cases, “especially those that prey on children.”
Jackson has drawn support from several police unions, which tend to lean to the right.
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