Third Time’s The Charm: Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Confirmation Wrap-Up

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(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The shenanigans start coming and they don’t stop coming.

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Potentially dethroning yesterday’s Ted Cruz performance as the ass of the confirmation process, Lindsey Graham took it upon himself to make the point that 24 months is two years and proved that there’s really no consequence to steamrolling speech time limits or talking over people.

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Lindsey Graham continues to interrupt and talk over Ketanji Brown Jackson pic.twitter.com/nMF6U1HBTb

— Acyn (@Acyn) March 23, 2022

I know that this confirmation hearing is meant to put Judge Jackson in the hot seat, but what sticks out the most to me is the shameful behavior of some of our representatives in the Senate. School children ought to know better than to talk over people and put words in their mouth as blatantly as Graham did here, and I commend Jackson for a level of restraint that can be described as nothing else other than judicial.

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Senator John Cornyn spent a good amount of time confusing Judge Jackson’s JD for an MD:

Sen. John Cornyn during a discussion on abortion: 'No one suggests that a 20-week-old fetus can live independently outside the mother’s womb, do they?’

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson: ‘Senator, I’m not a biologist’ pic.twitter.com/XWuaflgv4k

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) March 23, 2022

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As this confirmation lags on, I’m given constant reminders of the patience and self control overqualified women exhibit when being badgered by underqualified men.

The fact that Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson can keep herself together through this condescending at best "questioning" is mind blowing.

— Stories Within Us (@StoriesWithinUs) March 23, 2022

There’s been some backlash on the right pertaining to Judge Jackson’s choice to not give what will be taken as a legal definition of a woman.

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BLACKBURN: Can you provide a definition for the word 'woman'?

JACKSON: I can't. I'm not a biologist. pic.twitter.com/hQ7Q67O0Vw

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 23, 2022

I, for one, am a big fan of this. As a student of philosophy, one of my favorite moments from antiquity is when Socrates defined man as a featherless biped and Diogenes brilliantly popped up with a featherless chicken. What is a woman, really? The fact of the matter is that a litany of ongoing questions pose fundamental questions to old quandaries like when does life start and become viable re: Roe; what are women and how do we come up with a workable legal definition that doesn’t just default to biological essentialism re: workplace discrimination and competitions. And frankly, when it comes to hearing cases that question the fundamental relationship that the law and the legitimate use of state force has with the capacity to name and regulate the populace, I’d rather my judges take an empiricist approach to legal and lived matters than axiomata.  Selfishly, I admit, it makes it way more interesting to follow the trajectories of their jurisprudence that way. Balls = Boy is way harder to write an interesting note on, after all.

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Oh, and about Graham replacing Cruz on the being a dick scale, Mr. Zodiac somehow found a way to make Lindsey Graham look polite:

Sen. Dick Durbin: ‘Senator, would you please let her respond?’

Sen. Ted Cruz: 'No, not if she’s not going to answer my question’

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s face… pic.twitter.com/ToSzTxTv84

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) March 23, 2022

If the video is too long for you, here’s an accurate summary:

Now Cruz is just screaming

— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) March 23, 2022

For more confirmation developments, you know the first place to come to! In the meantime, a reminder that Americans have been trying to figure out what a woman is for a while now.

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

Courts, John Cornyn, Judicial Confirmations, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Lindsey Graham, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Ted Cruz, The Jabot, Women's Rights