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With hearings set to begin Monday, Democrat supporters of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination are touting what they say an is evenhanded judicial record and bipartisan support for her confirmation.
Conservative activists, meanwhile, decry Democrats’ use of what they say are cherry-picked examples of beltway lawyers who are friendly with Jackson. And they say GOP senators should vote against Jackson based on an allegedly liberal record.
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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., is among the most enthusiastic supporters of Jackson. And he’s eagerly highlighting the conservative-leaning people and groups who back her.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks after President Biden announced Jackson as his nominee to the Supreme Court in the Cross Hall of the White House, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
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“He made her out to be a product of creation of some far-left political cause of movement,” Durbin said on the Senate floor Tuesday after Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., decried her support from one progressive group. “But she’s much more than that.”
“He went on to say that Judge Thomas Griffith of the D.C. Circuit was harassed by the same special interest group that supports Judge Jackson,” Durbin said, referring to the organization Demand Justice. “He missed one key element: I just received letter within the last two weeks from Judge Thomas Griffith, a well-known, retired conservative federal judge, endorsing Ketanji Brown Jackson.”
In his remarks, Durbin also highlighted support for Jackson from law enforcement groups like the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP).
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., speaks before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the fourth days of hearing on Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool)
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool)
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The FOP and Griffith indeed support Jackson. “There is little doubt that she has the temperament, intellect, legal experience, and family background to have earned this appointment,” the FOP said in a statement, referring to her family members who are law enforcement officers.
“Judge Jackson has a demonstrated record of excellence, and I believe, based upon her work as a trial judge when I served on the Court of Appeals, that she will adjudicate based on the facts and the law and not as a partisan,” Griffith said.
“Judge Jackson and I occasionally differed on the best outcome of a given case,” Griffith added. “However, I have always respected her careful approach, extraordinary judicial understanding, and collegial manner.”
Jackson’s also backed by a group of bipartisan former Supreme Court clerks from when she clerked there in 1999 and 2000; the International Association for Chiefs of Police; a group of GOP lawyers who served primarily during the Reagan, H.W. Bush and W. Bush administrations.
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Former Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Michael Luttig, a George H.W. Bush appointee, also supports Jackson. He said Jackson is “eminently qualified” and urged Republican senators to support her.
Democrats have made sure to crow about all of these – and Durbin is far from the only one to do so.
“Just for the record, Judge Jackson’s supporters include the Fraternal Order of Police, conservative former federal judges Tom Griffith and Michael Luttig, a bipartisan group of former Supreme Court clerks, and the International Association of the Chiefs of Police,” President Biden’s chief of staff Ron Klain tweeted Tuesday.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks after President Joe Biden announced Jackson as his nominee to the Supreme Court in the Cross Hall of the White House, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022, in Washington. Vice President Kamala Harris listens at right.
(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
The White House’s press team, the official Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats Twitter account and the Democratic National Committee have also promoted stories on Griffith’s endorsement of Jackson.
“Judge Jackson has rendered nearly 550 decisions as a federal district judge, guided by the facts and the law,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said. “It’s clear why she has such a wide range of support.”
But conservative activists dismiss these endorsements as not indicative of Jackson’s judicial record.
“Judges will often have collegial relationships with one another; the warm friendship between Justices Scalia and Ginsburg is a notable example. How this translates to a bipartisan support for Jackson the Senate is a very different matter,” Judicial Crisis Network president Carrie Severino said.
“These are D.C.-based lawyers were appointed by Bush 41 and Bush 43,” Mike Davis, the founder of the conservative Article III project, told Fox News. Of the FOP and other law enforcement groups, Davis said, “It’s a police union. They’re not known for being movement conservatives.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, walks towards the Senate floor at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, June 7, 2021. McConnell is raising concerns about liberal groups that support Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Photographer: Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images
( Photographer: Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Davis criticized Jackson’s rulings, including on work emails a former Clinton aide sent from a private account. He also highlighted her famous ruling requiring former White House Counsel Don McGahn to testify against former President Donald Trump to a House committee. The latter ruling was overturned.
“In 2005 during the confirmation process for Chief Justice John Roberts, Sen. Chuck Schumer said that judicial philosophy and ideology are the most crucial qualifications for the Supreme Court,” Davis added. “So under the Schumer standard… no Republican senator should vote to confirm Judge Jackson.”
“During her judicial career, Jackson has demonstrated a willingness to deviate from the text in order to deliver a liberal policy outcome,” Severino said. “That is hardly mainstream.”
McConnell, meanwhile, attacked Jackson Thursday over her history on criminal justice.
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“It’s unsettling that senior Democrats have lauded Judge Jackson for the, ’empathy’ they suggest shapes her judicial approach,” McConnell said. “If you’re the litigant for whom a judge has special preexisting empathy, well, it’s your lucky day. But the other party is being denied their fair day in court.”
New York Times columnist Adam Liptak described the balance of Jackson’s judicial opinions as “leaning left.” But Democrats are sure to tout the fact she ruled on both sides of some major issues during her time on the bench, including both against and for the Trump administration.
In the case Center for Biological Diversity v. McAleenan, for example, an environmental group challenged the waiver of several environmental laws so the Trump administration could build a 20-mile section of border wall. Jackson ruled against the environmental group.
Fox News’ Jason Donner contributed to this report.
