Today begins the nomination process for new Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, who if confirmed, would be replacing retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, and would also be the first black woman to serve on the Supreme Court. Ketanji Brown Jackson was nominated by Joe Biden, solely to pander to the left. Most in the media, including Fox News, NewsMax, and those on the left, have said that this nomination would be a wash, because Jackson wouldn’t be flipping the Court one way or the other. That might be so as of this moment, but why should we be confirming a Judge like Jackson, who has serious radical views according to past decisions and lectures. Among these are her apparent support for the 1619 project, Critical Race Theory, and lack of knowledge on making decisions based on constitutional interpretation. The Supreme Court has a weak 6-3 Conservative majority with Chief Justice John Roberts often voting with the left, and that could be taken away any moment. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was hospitalized for Flu like symptoms last week, and is the oldest Justice on the court right now behind the retiring Breyer. We are one Justice away from having a very slim Conservative Constitutional based Supreme Court, and this nomination should matter to everyone, including Senate Republicans. But instead, the Senate, including Republicans, will be giving us another dose of political theater.
Biden Shouldn’t be Checking Off Representation Boxes When Filling His Appointments
Joe Biden nominated Jackson because of a campaign promise, saying he would nominate a black woman to the Supreme Court if any vacancy occurred. We should be nominating someone with exceptional credentials and who is eminently qualified, not because they check off a representation box.
“For too long, our government [and] our courts haven’t looked like America, and I believe it is time that we have a court that reflects the full talents and greatness of our nation with a nominee of extraordinary qualifications.”
Joe Biden’s administration reminds me of Kevin Feige’s Marvel Studios, with all the “firsts” they are so proud of. This nominee is for a lifetime appointment on the bench, and shouldn’t be toyed around with.
The 1619 Project is Propaganda and Dishonest
Jackson’s views on race in America are very telling on how she sees America, and how she might rule on the Supreme Court. The 1619 project, authored by Nikole Hannah-Jones, takes aim at America’s founding and aims to revise our history by saying that America was really founded in 1619 when the first slaves were brought over to Virginia colonies.
“The 1619 Project is an ongoing initiative from The New York Times Magazine that began in August 2019, the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. It aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.”
In January 2020, Jackson gave a lecture to the University of Michigan Law School as part of its Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration, in which she discussed aspects of the 1619 project in support of this revisionist history.
“Hannah-Jones (who happens to be a black woman) explains that the men who drafted and enacted the Constitution founded this nation on certain ideals: freedom; equality; democracy. Yet, at the time they formulated these principles, the institution of slavery already existed in the colonies—ever since the year 1619, when 20-to-30 Africans who had been captured in their homeland arrived in the colonies by ship and were exchanged for goods. Jones highlights the irony of the situation even further when she notes that at the very moment that Thomas Jefferson penned the self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence, a black relative—a slave—had been brought into his office to serve him. Thus, it is Jones’s provocative thesis that the America that was born in 1776 was not the perfect union that it purported to be, and that it is actually only through the hard work, struggles, and sacrifices of African Americans over the past two centuries that the United States has finally become the free nation that the Framers initially touted.”
Jackson’s Narrow Focus on America’s History is Detrimental
The Founders never said we were a perfect union. They said “in order to form a more perfect Union”. That implies a strive towards perfection, but doesn’t mean that we were. Slavery ended and was made illegal over 150 years ago, thanks to an amendment to the Constitution. The 1619 project is no more than propaganda aimed at rewriting America’s history to fit a political narrative. Everyone knows slavery was a bad thing, and the racism that ensued up through the Civil Rights movement was no better. But America learned from their history and corrected those wrongs. Jackson should be celebrating those advancements as ones of hope rather than feeding the fire that America is still racist. Jackson’s views on our history are singularly focused, and don’t look at the broader picture. That, in my opinion, is grounds for not being granted a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court.
Jackson Citing Proponents of CRT Suggests She Believes in CRT as Well
Jackson’s support of proponents of Critical Race Theory, is also of concern for someone who might be nominated to a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court. It would suggest that she believes in CRT’s racist theories as well. In the same lecture Jackson gave in 2020 about the 1619 Project, Jackson referenced a book by Derrick Bell(considered the godfather of CRT) called ‘Faces At The Bottom Of The Well: The Permanence Of Racism’. Jackson’s lecture used Bell’s book as a foundation for her lecture.
“My parents had this book on their coffee table for many years, and I remember staring at the image on the cover when I was growing up; I found it difficult to reconcile the image of the person, who seemed to be smiling, with the depressing message that the title and subtitle conveyed. I thought about this book cover again for the first time in forty years when I started preparing for this speech, because, before the civil rights gains of the 1960s, black women were the quintessential faces at the bottom of the well of American society, given their existence at the intersection of race and gender — both of which were highly disfavored characteristics.”
Jackson stated as well, that she draws heavily on Derrick Bell’s wife Dewart bell, who is herself a CRT advocate, stating that “I have drawn heavily from her excellent insights.”
Related: How’s Trump Looking Now?
The Constitution is the Law of the Land…Period
Finally, when Ketanji Jackson Brown was asked by Ted Cruz last year, during Jackson’s confirmation hearing to the DC Circuit, whether or not the Constitution was a living document or not, she gave the following answer:
“Senator, I have not had any cases that have required me to develop a view on constitutional interpretation of text in the way that the Supreme Court has to do and has to have thought about the tools of interpretation. I am aware that the Supreme Court, at least with respect to certain provisions of the Constitution that it has already interpreted, has looked at history, and has focused on the original meaning of the text say in the second amendment conduct context in the Heller case. I just have not had any opportunity to do that.”
Sounds like a big non answer, but more importantly, how do you not rule on anything, without considering whether it’s constitutional or not? Plus, Jackson has sat on a Federal bench for 8 years. How do you not understand the interpretation of the Constitution? That should be of concerning to every Senator that questions Jackson on Monday. The Constitution is not a living document, it is the law of the land, and should be interpreted as such.
Ketanji Brown Jackson Should be Pulled From Consideration
Those are just some of the examples that prove Ketanji Brown Jackson might be an activist progressive Supreme Court Justice. There is other evidence, such as her rulings on sex offenders, religious freedom, and abortion, that should disqualify her from consideration as well. The Senate should not confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson based on her views on the founding of America alone. Her support of the 1619 Project proves a negative bias towards the founders of this country. Those founders who are the very reason we live in a still free society, and have afforded the opportunities Jackson has had in her life. But the Republicans will more than likely confirm, thinking that it’s the safe bet considering the 6-3 advantage the constitutional conservatives still hold. The Republicans are cowards who won’t fight the good fight. They have the backing of a majority of the country, and shouldn’t squander this opportunity to fight for the American people and the Constitution.
