Senators Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Josh Hawley, John Kennedy, and Mike Lee — and maybe more — are Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee who have betrayed their lofty status as lawyers first, and legislators afterward. Most of their questions directed to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson are not lawyerly, examining her qualifications as a lawyer dedicated to the rule of law under our Constitution.
Rather, they demand that she declare herself on hot-button policy issues or conflicts that lie in the realm of politics and legislation — their area of responsibility. Kindly and gently, she has redirected the discussion to what the law says and doesn’t say, and how it is to be applied in particular cases within our judicial system. And she has consistently disclaimed any policy-making role in her past, present, and future decisions as a judge.
Bottom line: Judge Jackson is interviewing to be a Supreme Court justice, not a political candidate or appointee. To no avail. The Trumpublicans insist on scoring points that they hope will play well on television to their Trump base, to advance their prospects in upcoming elections.
Yes, sad to say, it has gone this low in today’s debased political discourse.
Fred Reklau
Oak Park