Moral decline of U.S. politics front and center during Jackson’s confirmation hearings

It was hard not to feel enormous admiration for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s handling of 22 hours of questioning during her Supreme Court nomination hearings — as well as disgust at some senators’ treatment of her.

Jackson was amazing at keeping her composure in the face of sometimes inappropriate and outright hostile questions. The behavior of Sens. Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Marsha Blackburn, Lindsey Graham and Tom Cotton, among others, was despicable. I felt despair for the direction our nation’s political discourse has accepted.

No senator disputed Jackson’s impeccable credentials. No senator questioned her judicial temperament. No allegations of improper behavior were made against her. Not once did she falter in answering questions, and she constantly demonstrated her keen intelligence and thorough knowledge of the law.

Instead, Jackson was maliciously assailed by Republican senators appealing to their political base, especially those with presidential aspirations.

Hawley, for example, repeatedly attacked her for being soft on crime and on child pornography in particular. Hawley, R-Mo., focused on seven child pornography cases in which Jackson ordered a lighter sentence than the Department of Justice recommended. But as the White House has pointed out, in five of those cases, Jackson imposed sentences that were the same as or greater than what the U.S. probation office recommended.

Moreover, both conservative and liberal judges often order sentences lower than those requested by prosecutors in all types of cases. Besides, this line of questioning has nothing to do with her qualifications or fitness to be a Supreme Court justice, as justices do not impose sentences in criminal cases.

Cruz, R-Texas, repeatedly focused his questions on critical race theory, which also has nothing to do with her role as a future justice on the Supreme Court. He focused on books used at a private school where Jackson is a trustee. Jackson, of course, has no role in setting the curriculum for the school; nor do Supreme Court justices.

Blackburn, R-Tenn., accused Jackson of having a “hidden agenda” and asked her to define “woman.” Graham, R-S.C., asked Jackson how often she went to church — a stunningly inappropriate question. Cotton, R-Ark., said Jackson rewrote a federal law because she was “sympathetic to a drug fentanyl kingpin.”

The inappropriate and irrelevant questions kept coming.

Many of the questions from Republicans focused on Jackson’s experience as a public defender, including her time representing a Guantanamo detainee. Instead of applauding her for upholding the constitutional right of every criminal defendant to have a lawyer, they treated her with great suspicion for having done so.

In the end, it appears none of this will matter. The Republicans don’t have the votes to block Jackson’s confirmation, and they know it. Even if every Republican senator votes against Jackson, the Democrats control the senate because Vice President Kamala Harris can break a 50-50 tie. Hopefully, at least a few Republican senators, such as Maine’s Susan Collins, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Utah’s Mitt Romney, will vote in her favor.

Jackson’s brilliant performance certainly warrants bipartisan support. It was not that long ago that impeccably qualified Supreme Court nominees were easily confirmed with bipartisan support. In 1986, conservative Antonin Scalia was confirmed unanimously, and seven years later, liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg was confirmed by a vote of 96-3.

Ultimately, the confirmation hearings reflect how toxic American politics have become, and how civility and decency have vanished. Anyone who watched the sneering, rude performances of Hawley, Cruz, Blackburn, Graham and Cotton can only lament our politics’ change for the worse.

We, the voters, are responsible for the politicians we elect. My hope would be that both liberals and conservatives express outrage at the type of behavior we saw in the confirmation hearings. I hope voters, including Republicans, turn against politicians who behave in such inappropriate and demeaning ways.