The historic Senate hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson have been joyful, combative and clarifying, putting on display the breadth of the nation’s partisan divide.
The fourth and final day of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s consideration of Jackson wrapped up Thursday with several hours of testimony from outside experts.
The American Bar Association’s standing committee on the federal judiciary has afforded its highest rating, “well qualified,” to the Harvard-educated Jackson. A junior high school friend gushed over the “supernova” debate team champion. Skeptics, including the Alabama’s attorney general, warned that her views on crime and policing are “outside the mainstream.”
Yet in the 50-50 Senate, where a Trump-era rules change means it is no longer necessary to muster broad support to confirm Supreme Court nominees, the hearings have become less about the vote ahead and more about framing the politics of the eventual outcome.
Democrats are on track to confirm President Joe Biden’s pick, with a vote expected by Easter, which is April 17.
One takeaway from Day Four of the weeklong hearing is that Trump’s influence still hovers… even after his exit from the White House.
One witnessed called by Republicans was Alessandra Serano, the chief legal officer of Operation Underground Railroad, a Utah based anti-trafficking nonprofit group. It is under criminal investigation in the state for exaggerating its role in law enforcement arrests involving child predators, in order to fundraise.
The organization has become popular online and found success raising money by pandering to the QAnon believers.
As Republicans focus on Jackson’s rulings in child pornography cases, Democrats accused them of peddling QAnon and the Big Lie in order to drum up voter interest before the midterm elections.
At one point Thursday, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., tried to air some of these points. He asked Alabama’s Marshall whether Biden was the “duly elected president” of the United States.
Marshall replied that Biden was the president.
Pressed if the witness was purposefully omitting the words “duly elected,” Marshall simply reiterated: “I’m answering the question. He is the president of the United States.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.