Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) claimed Monday that some members of the Republican Party had accused Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of “vile things” during her recent hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Durbin, who chairs the committee, said that most Republican members had kept their promise not to turn the proceedings into a “circus” — but he claimed that some had not done so, and had instead made ugly accusations in front of the judge’s family.
“Judge Jackson is a better person than me.”
Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-IL) lauded Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s temperament while criticizing behavior from some GOP members of the Judiciary Committee during her Supreme Court confirmation hearings. pic.twitter.com/K4WqJIsCuu
— CNN (@CNN) April 4, 2022
“On the whole, my Republican colleagues starting with my ranking member, Senator Grassley, treated the nominee with dignity and respect,” Durbin began. “They promised not to turn this confirmation process into a court circus, and most kept that promise.”
“Some, however, did not,” he continued. “Instead they repeatedly interrupted and badgered Judge Jackson and accused her of vile things in front of her parents, her husband, and her children. There was table pounding, some literal, from a few of my colleagues. They repeated discredited claims about Judge Jackson’s record. They impugned her motives and questioned her candor. One all but called her a liar. They even suggested that Judge Jackson, mother to two wonderful daughters, quote ‘endangers children.'”
“Judge Jackson is a better person than me,” Durbin concluded. “She stayed calm and collected. She showed dignity, grace, and poise.”
The “vile” accusations Durbin alluded to stemmed from a series of questions — from several Republicans on the committee — about the judge’s record, claiming a pattern of Brown imposing lax sentences in child pornography cases.
As some critics were quick to point out on Twitter, Durbin appeared to have all but forgotten the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh — during which Democrats sat on an uncorroborated accusation until after the committee hearings, and then blindsided the nominee with a second hearing based on that.
During that second hearing, in front of his wife — and prompting officials to have his young daughters removed from the courtroom — Democrats proceeded to go through Kavanaugh’s calendars and high school yearbooks, accusing him of sexual assault and gang rape despite a lack of evidence showing that his one public accuser had ever even met him in person.
Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Matt Whitlock noted that Durbin had been a part of those hearings as well and pointed out the irony — although likely unintentional — in the Illinois Senator’s comments, tweeting, “Incredible Durbin was able to pull this off with a straight face. @DickDurbin joined literal career criminal Michael Avenatti in calling Kavanaugh a serial gang rapist — but thinks fair questions about Jackson’s record (which they tried to hide) are ‘vile?’ Get out of here.”
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