Ketanji Brown Jackson Stresses Continuity at Supreme Court

Democratic senators praised the nomination of Judge Jackson—the first Black woman to ever be considered for the Supreme Court—as historic. They said Judge Jackson, currently sitting on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, represents a step toward restoring the Supreme Court’s legitimacy by making its composition more closely resemble the nation whose laws it administers.

“Today is a proud day for America,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) said at the hearing’s outset.

For Republicans—who held the majority in the Senate for the last three Supreme Court nominations—the Jackson hearings are an occasion to stress conservative approaches to judicial interpretation and to criticize liberals’ treatment of GOP nominees since the Senate rejected Reagan nominee Robert Bork in 1987.

“We will conduct a thorough, exhaustive examination of Judge Jackson’s record and views,” said

Chuck Grassley

(R., Iowa), the committees’ ranking Republican member. “We won’t try to turn this into a spectacle based on alleged process fouls.”

Judge Jackson, 51, spoke in the late afternoon after a firm endorsement from Judge Thomas Griffith, a Republican-nominated former colleague on the D.C. federal appeals court. Alongside Justice Breyer she cited Judge Constance Baker Motley, the first Black woman appointed to the federal bench, as a judicial role model.

Because she was nominated to succeed a fellow Democratic appointee, Judge Jackson is unlikely to alter the court’s ideological balance. That appeared to lower the temperature for this week’s proceedings—compared to those arising from the last three vacancies, which allowed then-President

Trump

to solidify the court’s conservative majority. If confirmed, Judge Jackson would maintain the three-member liberal minority on a court dominated by six conservatives.

When a Republican-majority Senate confirmed Justice Amy Coney Barrett to succeed the late

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

in October 2020, it shifted the court’s makeup to a 6-3 conservative majority that persists.

On the first of four days of hearings, each committee member made a 10-minute opening statement followed by Judge Jackson’s brief statement.

The sessions Tuesday and Wednesday will likely be the liveliest of the week, with members questioning Judge Jackson about her judicial philosophy and past opinions. Thursday’s agenda will include testimony from outside experts and legal observers on Judge Jackson’s record and her suitability for the court.

Barring unforeseen revelations, little stands in the way of Judge Jackson’s confirmation. The Senate’s breakdown is unchanged since last year, when three Republicans joined all 50 Democrats and independents to confirm her to the D.C. Circuit.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) said that her record suggested Judge Jackson could help bring liberal and conservative justices together. “The court needs a bridge builder now more than ever. It has become more polarized, more politicized, more divided than at any point in our history and it faces a crisis of legitimacy as a result,” he said.

Democrats, for the first time since 2010 considering a nominee from a president of their own party, emphasized Judge Jackson’s credentials and career accomplishments. They point to Judge Jackson as proof of President Biden’s commitment to diversify the federal bench. Judge Jackson’s confirmation would put four women on the bench for the first time—about as close to gender equality as possible on a nine-member court.

“We have had 115 Supreme Court justices, and we shouldn’t diminish the accomplishments of [these mostly] white men,” said Sen.

Cory Booker

(D., N.J.). “But now, we are seeing, to the highest court in our land, a hopeful day like this,” he said, where the U.S. is ready to draw on a representative “of the rich talent of our nation who could not scarcely ever dream of sitting on the Supreme Court.”

Many Democrats remain sore over the timing and context of the three Trump nominations: Justice

Neil Gorsuch

took a seat in 2017 after Senate Republicans denied a hearing to President

Obama’s

nominee,

Merrick Garland

; Justice

Brett Kavanaugh

was confirmed in 2018 after denying allegations from

Christine Blasey Ford

that he assaulted her in high school; and Justice

Amy Coney Barrett

was confirmed to succeed the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg days before the November 2020 election when voters turned over the White House and Senate to Democrats.

Republicans, meanwhile, face conflicting political agendas. While GOP senators said they would press Judge Jackson on legal ideology, hoping to paint her as a liberal activist, some Republicans are wary of any attacks on the first Black woman Supreme Court nominee that might motivate Democratic voters. Many Republicans believe they prevailed in the 2018 Senate elections partly because of GOP voters’ outrage at Democrats who pressed Justice Kavanaugh over the assault allegations.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) on Monday criticized Judge Jackson for imposing what he said was a series of lenient criminal sentences against child-pornography offenders, echoing criticism he first aired last week. He cited seven child-pornography cases that the judge presided over in which he said she handed down sentences below what U.S. sentencing guidelines suggested, saying they represented a concerning pattern.

The White House and other defenders of Judge Jackson have said her record doesn’t reflect such leniency and point to her endorsements from several law-enforcement organizations.

Sen.

Marsha Blackburn

(R., Tenn.), the last senator on the committee to speak, sought to link Judge Jackson with critical race theory, an academic concept that argues the legacy of white supremacy remains embedded in modern-day society through laws and institutions that shaped American society. She accused Judge Jackson of endorsing the “progressive indoctrination of our children.”

“You serve on the board of a school that teaches kindergartners, five-year-old children, that they can choose their gender and teaches them about so-called white privilege,” Mrs. Blackburn said. “This type of progressive indoctrination of our children causes one great concern when it comes to how you may rule on cases involving parental rights.”

While Judge Jackson will likely be asked on Tuesday for her views on hot-button topics such as abortion and affirmative action, recent nominees have typically been unwilling to comment on issues that might come before the court.

If she follows her playbook from last year’s D.C. Circuit confirmation, Judge Jackson likely will say as little of substance as possible. Asked then if she agreed with the living Constitution approach that seeks to adapt the charter’s broad principles to changing times, Judge Jackson demurred. The former Supreme Court law clerk told the committee she never had a case requiring her “to develop a view on constitutional interpretation.”

Write to Jess Bravin at jess.bravin+1@wsj.com