Justice Jackson And The GOP Scorched Earth Strategy

Congratulations are in order for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, whom we will soon call US Supreme Court Justice Jackson. Unfortunately, the good news of her confirmation is bad news for the future of American politics.

Politics
The soon-to-be Justice Jackson — who will replace Justice Stephen Breyer when he retires later this summer — was confirmed last Thursday by the US Senate with a vote of 53-47. All 50 Democratic senators and 3 Republican senators (Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitt Romney of Utah) voted in favor of her ascension to the nation’s highest court. The remaining 47 Republican senators voted against her appointment. The confirmation of Justice Jackson means she will become the first Black female to sit on the US Supreme Court bench in its 233-year history.

President Biden and Democrats are giddy with excitement over the results of the vote, particularly because Democrats have not had a successful confirmation since the early days of the Obama presidency.

You may remember that Republican senators refused to even consider President Obama’s choice of Judge Merrick Garland (claiming his nomination was too close to the presidential election some 8 months later). They then miraculously changed their stance and raced through 3 judicial appointments during the Donald Trump years, including one (the Ruth Bader Ginsburg vacancy) only weeks before the 2020 election.

Interestingly, what Republicans did back then was mere child’s play compared to what they will have in store for America and its future. For, you see, the once (supposed) dignified and respectful selection of a US Supreme Court justice has now become a political pawn in a Republican game of oneupmanship.

Or, in other words, Republicans have used the confirmation of Justice Jackson to brazenly tip their hand on how they intend to govern from this day forward.

At the conclusion of Judge Jackson’s Senate committee hearing, GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina made a statement in favor of the Black woman who would make Supreme Court history.

“I got an opportunity during one of the breaks to go up to her parents, and I told them that they clearly raised her right,” Tillis said of Judge Jackson. “They should be very proud.”

He then voted against her.

Yes, Sen. Tillis praised Justice Jackson as a phenomenal pick who has made her parents proud — then joined his fellow GOP colleagues in voting against her while portraying her as a “dangerous” judge engaged in an extremist mission to undermine public safety on behalf of child-sex offenders, terrorists, and shadowy moneyed figures on the far left.

If Tillis truly believed Judge Jackson’s parents should be proud of the person they raised, how could he possibly consider her a purported threat to the Republic who was undeserving of his confirmation vote?

Tillis was not alone in his demonizing.

Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri regurgitated the QAnon conspiracy theory that the Democratic Party is one big child-trafficking ring and that Justice Jackson would promote such riff-raff if she advanced to the Supreme Court.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas suggested that supporting Jackson was comparable to calling for the police to be abolished.

Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa joined Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia in proclaiming that the 3 GOP senators who voted to confirm Jackson were “pro-pedophile.”

Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas presented a nonsensical rant, saying “Judge Jackson has also shown real interest in helping terrorists.” He then added: “The last Judge Jackson” — Robert H. Jackson — “left the Supreme Court to go to Nuremberg and prosecute the case against the Nazis. This Judge Jackson might have gone there to defend them!”

Wild, huh? However, there’s more.

For his part, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky let it be known that should Republicans regain control of the Senate after the 2022 midterm elections, he would use politics against any future nominees from President Biden. Or, to put it bluntly, he intends to use the old ‘Merrick Garland trick’ to either delay or outright refuse any future Biden picks unless he and the GOP get their way on whatever they want.

To recap, Republicans called Justice Jackson a woman her parents “raised right” and should be proud to have as a daughter. They then called her a terrorist and pedophile-loving threat to the Republic who was undeserving of a seat on the Supreme Court. Next, the Republican leader on Capitol Hill vowed to play politics and derail any future court nominations or cabinet appointments by the current and all future Democratic presidents if and when the GOP regains control of Congress.

So, while we celebrate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman approved to the US Supreme Court, we mourn the loss of congressional compromise and the rise of political games Republicans have promised are on the horizon.

OK WASSUP! discusses Politics:
The confirmation of Justice Jackson
comes with consequences.