Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson

Before the U.S. Senate had even started its hearings to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, it was obvious that she was fully qualified — more qualified than most or all of the recent members, depending on how you look at it. So I wondered how far Republicans would go to throw ineffective tantrums.

As we now know, they went farther than anyone in recent memory to create fake drama about a nominee, someone who wasn't a firebrand like Robert Bork, who had helped Richard Nixon oust members of the Department of Justice, or who hadn't been accused of sexually harassing a coworker or sexually assaulting peers, like Clarence Thomas or Brett Kavanaugh. Some of them did everything they could to normalize the QAnon fixation with child predators and tie KBJ's name to child porn.

They knew she would be confirmed, and three of their Republican colleagues (not members of the Judiciary Committee, unfortunately) knew it well enough to vote for her on the floor. Yet the members of the Judiciary Committee had to use their power to administer ritual humiliation to this woman, this woman who is so much better than any of them. It was a clear demonstration of white power and dominance, and it looked irrational.

Only a few Republican committee members managed to act like adults and ask respectable questions. And even those few couldn't bring themselves to vote for her in committee or on the floor.

After today's vote, Vice President Kamala Harris said that KBJ's confirmation to the court is a reminder of who we are as a country. I think that's right, on the whole. At least, it's who we should be as a country. And the behavior and votes of the Republicans in the Senate Judiciary Committee and the 47 who voted against her on the Senate floor are a reminder of who they are. Small-minded, ugly inside, and dangerous.

Who they are, increasingly, frightens me. 

 

But as Senators Cory Booker and Raphael Warnock and others have said, they still can't steal this joy.

___

Update: A few hours after I posted this, I heard that some number of Republican senators walked out of the chamber after the vote total was announced confirming KBJ to the Supreme Court.