Republican excuses for rejecting Ketanji Brown Jackson are absurd
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Biden’s Supreme Court nominee, seems to be getting rave reviews from Republicans. Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) said that she is “a person of exceptionally good character, respected by her peers and someone who has worked hard to achieve her current position.” Sen. Ben Sasse (Neb.) declared that she “has impeccable credentials and a deep knowledge of the law.” Obviously, Judge Jackson exceeds the standard that should apply to Supreme Court nominees: that they be well-qualified, possess an even temperament and sit within the judicial mainstream. Yet Mr. Graham, Mr. Sasse and other Judiciary Committee Republicans are vowing to oppose advancing her nomination when the panel meets on Monday.
The reasons they have concocted are not credible. Mr. Graham voted to confirm Judge Jackson to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the second-most powerful court in the country, less than a year ago. Yet Mr. Graham has suddenly concluded that she has a “record of judicial activism.”
Mr. Sasse complained that Judge Jackson “refused to claim originalism as her judicial philosophy.” In fact, the extent to which she embraced originalism made many liberals uncomfortable. “I believe that the Constitution is fixed in its meaning,” Judge Jackson said in her confirmation hearings. “I believe that it’s appropriate to look at the original intent, original public meaning, of the words when one is trying to assess because, again, that’s a limitation on my authority to import my own policy.” If that is not good enough for Mr. Sasse, he is committing to reject any Supreme Court nominee selected by a Democratic president. Perhaps that is the point.
Senators should not impose an originalism test or a living constitutionalism test or any other crude philosophical standard on judicial nominees. The correct way to interpret the Constitution is open to legitimate debate, each judge — even each originalist judge — is different, and presidents should generally get high-quality picks confirmed. Otherwise the federal judiciary would become more political and less effective.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/04/03/republican-excuses-rejecting-ketanji-brown-jackson-are-absurd/
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