“Presidents are not kings,” Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote, “They do not have subjects, bound by loyalty or blood, whose destiny they are entitled to control.” 

Those were the words of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

She was writing a 2019 decision that denied President Donald Trump’s close advisors immunity from Congressional subpoenas. 

Flash Forward to Today

It is 2022, and the Senate Judiciary Committee considers President Joe Biden’s historic nomination to the United States Supreme Court.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is the first Black woman nominated to the high court.

I’m Gloria Moraga; this is One-On-One.

Let’s talk about Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Of course, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is President Biden’s nominee to the United States Supreme Court.

She is, without a doubt, an extraordinary woman.

Today, March 21, 2022, was the first of her Senate Confirmation Hearings on Capitol Hill.

Music

What is the role of the United States Supreme Court?

It is the highest court in the land, and basically, the buck stops there.

When someone is unhappy about a lower court decision, you appeal.

You get another chance. If you meet the criteria, you have another day in court.

Sometimes people die, or the issue is no longer an issue. But the question is still before the court.

Here’s a quote from Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

“The dispute-and-decision bell cannot be unrung — there was a dispute, and someone was declared the winner,” she wrote. “Written opinions are the most accurate historical record of what the supervising court thought of those events. And in a common law system of case-by-case adjudication, history need not, and should not, be cavalierly discarded.”

What do you think?

I love it. Because, yes, we need recorded history. 

Here is that decision I mentioned before. 

In 2019, House Democrats were battling out with the Trump Administration about obstruction of justice charges.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson ordered Donald F. McGahn, President Trump’s former White House counsel to testify about a pattern of presidential obstruction of justice.

Trump’s legal team says that the president’s close advisors had absolute immunity from congressional subpoenas.

“Presidents are not kings,” she wrote, “They do not have subjects, bound by loyalty or blood, whose destiny they are entitled to control.”

Those are past decisions. 

Let’s focus on the Confirmation Hearings.

How will the haters, the racists, and the Trump loyalists treat Judge Jackson?

Not very well, I think.

Even before the hearing gaveled into order, Republicans had already decided to oppose her confirmation.

The experts say she mostly will not get one Republican vote.

It won’t matter if the democratic majority vote for her; she will win confirmation and make history.

But that won’t stop the right-wingers from taking potshots at her and misrepresenting her past decisions.

I covered the United States Supreme Court for ten years.

It was an honor and a joy to be there.

When Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Justice to sit on the high court, retired, I was there. I sat near him in the front row of his press conference announcing his retirement.

I barely remember it. I think I held my breath the entire time he was in the room. I was in awe, like a Bruce Springsteen fan being invited up on the stage to dance with him.

Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing was largely ceremonially.

Let’s talk about that.

Let’s talk about Communication.

Let’s talk about how United States Senators communicate.

They said they would be courteous. The usual suspects were not.

They used their time in their opening statements to attack her. Sometimes wrongly.

It wasn’t questions and answers. They were making statements. Sometimes they were outright lying.

I watched it on CSPAN; the camera would cut to Judge Brown Jackson’s face. And I got embarrassed for her and uncomfortable.

I found myself holding my breath, waiting for something horrible to happen. It didn’t. We didn’t have insurrections storm in.

But then again, maybe it did just that the right-wingers are there to show off and get votes from racists.

I ask you, how do you attack a black woman without sounding racist?

You focus on her legal work. Her legal opinions.

But always, always, the racists figure out a way to bring race into seemingly non-racial issues even when it is incorrect to bring it up.

I’m going to now quote from a Washington Post Op-Ed. Because writer Dana Milbank says what I am trying to say, so much better than I ever could. Here is the title of the piece.

Republicans promised ‘no circus’ at Jackson’s hearing. Then the clown car rolled in.

“Republicans used their opening statements to portray Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to the high court, as not just a pedophile enabler but also a terrorist sympathizer with a “hidden agenda” to indoctrinate Americans with the “racist vitriol” of critical race theory.”

Day One of the Confirmation Hearings

After all, the Senator’s had their chance to Bla Bla Bla. The nominee was introduced, and it was her turn to talk.

Judge Brown Jackson’s opening statement was cautious. She thanked all the people she should have thanked, and she got a couple of good two quotes, which I liked.

On the day of his Supreme Court nomination, Justice Breyer said: “What is Law supposed to do, seen as a whole? It is supposed to allow all people — all people — to live together in a society, where they have so many different views, so many different needs, to live together more harmoniously, that is better so that they can work productively together.”

This is what moved me!

“What is Law supposed to do…It is supposed to allow all people — all people — to live together in a society, where they have so many different views and needs, to live together more harmoniously…”

This is what the law is about. This is why laws exist! We disagree with each other BUT! WE FOLLOW THE LAW AND LIVE TOGETHER MORE HARMONIOUSLY!

That has not been happening in our country. People break laws, and Justice is slow. But the lawbreakers and the anti-mask and anti-vaccination have no right to be rude to me or anyone because we follow doctors’ recommendations.

I could give example after example. But I will not. 

This is why we need to talk about the Confirmation Hearings 

Because Congress treats this one woman, this pioneer is a lesson for us. We need to watch and see how she is treated. It’s important not to let the bullies win. They treat her badly and unfairly; they treat me badly and unfairly.

I’m not going to stand for it. And neither should you.

I’ll end with one final quote from Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson,

I have dedicated my career to ensuring that the words engraved on the front of the Supreme Court building—”Equal Justice Under Law” — are a reality and not just an idea.

The hearings continue today and tomorrow. I’ll be watching.