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The U.S. Supreme Court (by Joe Ravi via Wikimedia – CC-BY-SA 3.0)

It’s day two of one of the most decorated judges in recent history’s confirmation hearings, and things are going about as groovy as one would expect. Texas Senator Ted Cruz took up a good chunk of airtime grilling Ketanji Brown Jackson about a paper she wrote 20+ years ago and it went a little something like this.

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KBJ: I was writing a paper. That does not mean they were my views or are now.

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Zodiac: So these were your views?

KBJ: I did not say that, I was doing the type of thing most law review students do when they’ve been given information about a new set of laws that courts have not ruled on yet.

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Not Arthur Leigh Allen: So basically, what you’re saying is you’re pro CP? Am I getting it right?

Richard Marshall’s spirit animal then proceeded to take a red marker to a skewed blow-up of Jackson’s sentencing —when he wasn’t asking about children’s literature, that is.

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Ted Cruz is using his time questioning Ketanji Brown Jackson to complain about a children's book called "Antiracist Baby" pic.twitter.com/cmQgjJgl2z

— jordan (@JordanUhl) March 22, 2022

In the spirit of acknowledging how much of this show is not saying the quiet part out loud, take a gander at this succinct illumination of the spectacle at hand.

Seriously, this whole "don't you all know each other" line of discussion, as if Black people are like the Borg, is beyond filthy.

— Liz Dye (@5DollarFeminist) March 22, 2022

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To be honest, I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one who sees the judge’s adroit handling of Gary Francis Poste’s questioning as an absolute win!

If anyone has questions about Ketanji Brown Jackson’s judicial demeanor they’re fully resolved by how patiently & skillfully she’s responded to Ted Cruz’s “questions.”

— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) March 22, 2022

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I will also be taking a moment to just appreciate how quickly Judge Jackson shot back a constitutionally grounded answer to unnecessary prying. Really let it soak in.

It’s 2022 and senator Lindsey Graham asked this question during a senate supreme court hearing.

pic.twitter.com/epTgVkKHJa

— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) March 22, 2022

I know a Supreme Court nominee’s ready familiarity with the main text they will be working with is a new thing, but I could definitely get used to it. But that’s about as far as I’ll go with the ACB comparisons — they’re clearly getting different treatment.

Amy Coney Barret, who also has Black children, was never asked these questions #SCOTUSHearing

— Dara Jackson 🇺🇦 🌻 (@britlitreader) March 22, 2022

All in all, it’s exactly what you expected. More excellence, more desperate gripping at straws and trying to get something other than “Y’all know she’s Black right?” as a sticking point. So far they’re resorting to clips from yesterday and her not talking as an OWNING THE LIBS moment. Must be rough.

1/2 🔴 Marsha Blackburn EXPOSES Biden Supreme Court pick to her FACE over her support of CRT— She sits in STUNNED silence pic.twitter.com/t1WrgOeAuB

— Xx (@Xx17965797) March 22, 2022

By the way, as a person well versed in my face is telling on my thoughts, that look from the thumbnail is a time-honored sign in Black facial linguistics that means something along the lines of “This lady talking is out of her damned mind/Can I go home yet?” Which is to say, the being stunned here is not at KBJ’s expense.

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

 

Topics

Confirmation, Confirmation Hearings, Courts, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Supreme Court, Ted Cruz