The Washington Postâs editorial board has a strange view of Senate Republicansâ behavior during Judge Ketanji Brown Jacksonâs confirmation hearings that appears to be rather untethered from the historical record.
âThroughout her Senate confirmation hearings, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has been a model of composure, which is made all the more impressive by the egregious behavior of some on the Republican side,â the board wrote in an editorial on Wednesday.
It continued, âDuring the hearings, Republicans such as Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) have congratulated themselves for declining to treat Judge Jackson the way Democrats handled the nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh. In fact, by the most relevant measures, Mr. Graham and a handful of other Judiciary Committee Republicans have handled themselves worse.â
The Post went on to claim a âwoman credibly accused Mr. Kavanaugh of sexual assaultâ and that âit was Mr. Kavanaugh who behaved intemperately, personally attacking Democratic senators and revealing partisan instincts that raised questions about his commitment to impartiality.â
âBy contrast, Republicans have smeared Judge Jackson based on obvious distortions of her record and the law. Mr. Graham and others painted her as a friend of child pornographers, despite the fact that her sentences in their cases reflect the judicial mainstream,â the editorial argued.
It also accused Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) of âassailing those concerned about transgender peopleâ and noted that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) âattacked Judge Jackson for sitting on the board of Georgetown Day School, a D.C. private school, because he disapproves of its anti-racism curriculum, which Judge Jackson has never endorsed.â
However, the Postâs assessment of Republicansâ behavior wasnât all bad.
It noted that Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) âquestioned her respectfully on the originalist philosophy of judicial interpretation.â Meanwhile, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) âcongratulated the Democrats on running a fair hearing.â
But, the editorial board claims âtheir colleaguesâ antics distracted from their more productive questioningâ and âwhat should have been the order of the day: recognizing the historic nomination of the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court.â
You can question whether the Republicans are making good use of their time and if they are asking Jackson serious questions about her record. But they are not trying to attack her character or destroy her name as Democrats did to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Kavanaugh faced severalallegations of sexual assault from his high school years that only surfaced after he was nominated to the Supreme Court, not during his ascent as a judge. He also faced a question from Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) about his drinking habits.
His confirmation process additionally included claims that he committed perjury and questions about his temperament after he delivered an emotional response to the sexual assault allegations.
Then there were the protests, featuring people dressing up as though they were in âThe Handmaidâs Tale,â during his confirmation hearings.
Even âSpartacusâ â Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) â told Fox News that âeverything has been well within the boundsâ during Jacksonâs hearings.
If members of the Postâs editorial board think Republicansâ behavior is worse than the treatment Kavanaugh received from Democrats, perhaps they should re-watch the hearings to refresh their memories.
