A Liberal Justice I can Support

Ketanji Brown Jackson at her senate confirmation hearing yesterday (AP)

If I were in the senate, I would vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the position of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. After watching much of the hearing by  the Senate Judiciary Committee, I found that she has all the qualities that Supreme Court justices should have. I say this despite the fact that she is known to have liberal political philosophy.  And might even vote on some issues that are against my own political philosophy.

That said, I don’t see her in any way a radical leftist. In fact her originalist view of the constitution is the same as conservatives like the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. In other words she does not look at the constitution as a living document meant to be adjusted to the times. Which is how a liberal Justice like Stephen Breyer looks at it. She instead looks at the original intent of the framers. And basis her rulings on that.  

There were two issues raised by conservative senators that need to be addressed. First was the revelation that she served on an elementary school board that whose curriculum actually had Critical Race Theory as part of their curriculum. 

Jackson does not seem to be in any way a supporter of Critical Race Theory (CRT). Without really saying so, her views are more like those of Martin Luther King who preached being color blind with respect to how America should view racial matters. Not the views Ibram X. Kendi who says that the color of a person’s skin does matter and always results in racism. That we must admit it. And that white people have only 2 choices: to be  racist or  to be anti-racist. No such thing as being colorblind. 

Jackson's life is the antithesis of that. She expressed gratitude to this country and the founding principles upon which their country was built. And from which she benefitted. Her admiration for that was obvious throughout the hearing. Her respect for law enforcement was shown by how she was raised. Which was in a family whose service to this country is matched by few Americans. A family dedicated to public service, law enforcement, and military service. 

Senator Ted Cruz presented several textbooks and optional reading material from that school that spoke about that subject. Including books by Kendi. Briefly stated CRT is viewing the founding of this country through the lens of racism. That the founding fathers were racist, built this country on the backs of black slaves, and that many of them were slaveholders who did not consider black people in any real sense equal to white people. 

Cruz asked her if she approved of that kind of curriculum – as her presence on that school broad might indicate. Her answer was that she did not know what the actual curriculum was since her job as a board member had nothing to do with the curriculum and therefore she could not really comment on it. 

While she did not explicitly say so, it is clear form her admiration and dedication to the founding principles of this country that she is not in favor of smearing the people who actually established those principles - from which she personally benefitted.

Why did she support that school? Because at a time during the 40s when segregation was the law of the land and prevented black children from attending white public schools - this school was founded by 3 black families and the 3 white families for purposes of integration. (Jackson made a point of mentioning that the white founders of the school were Jewish.)

While it is hard to know for sure what her view of Critical Race Theory is, everything about her says that she is not a fan of teaching it in the schools.

The other issue thrown at her by conservatives is a matter that is of great concern to me: Child sexual abuse. Jackson was accused of being soft on those found guilty of this crime. Specifically in one case where she gave a 3 month prison sentence to an 18 year old found guilty of possessing many hours of hard core child pornography. Those of us that are concerned by the rampant degree of child sexual abuse that takes place in our day might be more than a little disturbed by such a light sentence.

Without getting into details I found the explanation of her decision to be reasonable. And that most judges – including conservative ones - issued similar sentences in cases like that.. And perhaps more importantly her personal abhorrence of sexual abusers to be in line with my own. 

We need people like Jackson on the court. My gut feeling is that she is not an activist judge and will not walk in lockstep with the left. I take her at her word that she will look at the intent of the constitution‘s framers  and judge accordingly.

It would be nice if for a change there was some bi-partisan support for someone whose intelligence, integrity and sense of right and wrong is by all measure - impeccable.