Ketanji Brown-Jackson confirmed by a 53-47 vote
This action by the Senate was a foregone conclusion, even without the ever-so-helpful three Republican votes. That is because not a single Democrat defected, not even Manchin.
That does not surprise me terribly, although with the three Republican votes Manchin might have been allowed to defect had he wanted to do so. Democrats are capable of imposing tremendous discipline, and in this case I think they wanted no naysayer to disturb the confirmation of the first black female to the Court. Unfortunately – as with Kamala Harris, first female VP and first “person of color” VP – Brown-Jackson is not even close to the most impressive black female candidate that might have been chosen.
The actual effect on the Court is probably to preserve the status quo. Voting against Brown-Jackson would only have caused her replacement by someone who would be voting the same way on the Court as she will be voting.
The three Republicans who voted for her confirmation are Susan Collins (understandable, because her popularity in Maine depends on her being willing to vote with Democrats on some things), Lisa Murkowski (who needn’t vote that way, being from Alaska, but who likes to thwart the GOP routinely), and Mitt Romney (who has become some sort of malicious spoiler). I find it interesting that Lindsey Graham, who virtually always votes for the confirmation of all SCOTUS nominees, didn’t vote “Yay” on this one.
You realize that Mitt Romney, who was at that time over 70, who has a wife, five children, and twenty grandchildren and who might return to the consulting business in Boston if he wishes to keep working, insisted on running for Congress in 2018. It was a step down from other offices he’d held, it required inconveniencing his wife in order to establish a notional residency in Utah (a state in which he’d lived for about five of his 71 years), it required conning Utah voters into voting for him, and it required putting up with the chickensh!t of being in Congress. By all appearances, it was all for spite.
Note, the campaign manager he employed in 2012 joined the Lincoln Project.
Btw, the pair of greasy crooks who ran John McCain’s campaign in 2008 both signed an amicus brief in favor of judicially-imposed homosexual pseudogamy; one of them later joined the Lincoln Project while the other now works for MSDNC. Prior to working for McCain, she’d been employed on the White House staff and prior to that by the re-election campaign of this guy:
https://akns-images.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/201881/rs_1024x759-180901192315-1024.michelle-obama-george-w-bush.ct.090118.jpg?fit=inside%7C900:auto&output-quality=90
Failure theater.
The outcome was never in doubt, nor should anyone be surprised if, as seems likely, The Notorious KBJ turns out to be the most radical and the most extreme member ever of SCOTUS, especially on matters relating to race. As for BLM-admiring Romney, he continues to be an unmitigated disgrace (like the ghastly and supposedly Republican governor of his state), and as for Lindsay the perpetual war-monger, he has consistently voted for Biden’s left-wing appointments to the lower courts. Should conservative voters not repudiate GOPe in the midterms, the fall of the republic will indeed be nigh.
Why didn’t she turn down the nomination. It is highly insulting to be nominated because you are black and a woman (But then again, she is not a biologist, so she isn’t sure about the second part.)
It is highly insulting to be nominated because you are black and a woman
I’m going to offer the hypothesis that she understands herself to have inherited aristocratic status, and appointments on that basis merely recognize the fact.
and as for Lindsay the perpetual war-monger,
It’s really unpalatable that soi-disant Republicans have taken to this nonsense discourse.
“…is not even close to the most impressive black female candidate that might have been chosen.”
They don’t want an impressive pick. Someone impressive might actually think and listen to arguments. They might decide cases on the merit and go against the Democrats if the constitution indicated to do so. They have what they wanted, a nice safe ideolog who will never give the “wrong” answer.
AD – “I’m going to offer the hypothesis that she understands herself to have inherited aristocratic status, and appointments on that basis merely recognize the fact.”
Yep…akin to the old noblesse oblige I would think.
Graham is no surprise at all. He knew he had the cover he needed to put on his act – a routine he’s been running for decades. It’s apparently effective since there are still plenty of people who should know better that are fooled by it.
Next goal for Biden: First black woman on the moon!
Hopefully the astronaut will be Lizzo – who’ll be light as a feather in the lunar environment.
Yep…akin to the old noblesse oblige I would think.
Not at all. The whole point of BLM is “Fuc@ you, white trash”.
Graham is no surprise at all. He knew he had the cover he needed to put on his act – a routine he’s been running for decades. It’s apparently effective since there are still plenty of people who should know better that are fooled by it.
He voted no. Would you prefer he’d have voted yes?
Pedophiles across America are celebrating.
Many of Disney’s employees are ecstatic.
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” John Adams
“Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private, and public virtue is the only foundation of republics.” John Quincy Adams
Oh to be a fly on the wall listening to her argue legal points against Thomas
“I find it interesting that Lindsey Graham, who virtually always votes for the confirmation of all SCOTUS nominees, didn’t vote “Yay” on this one.”
Because she denied his womanhood.
This morning on NPR, Nina Totenberg used cherry-picked stats to “prove” that Republican are more obstructionist on SCOTUS nominations than Dems. Gag!
The confirmation was no surprise. Her history and answers to questions support her expected status as a radical on the Court. She could not affirm to Ted Cruz that she thinks Americans have “natural rights.” On the pedophile sentencing, she demonstrated judicial override of statutes because of changing standards. Never mind those pesky legislatures.
“It is highly insulting to be nominated because you are black and a woman ”
—-
Insulting or not, she’s now one of the most influential people in the country. I could put up with an awful lot of insult if there was a US Supreme Court seat attached to it.
The next step toward a truly progressive SCOTUS will be a transgender justice. The obvious candidate is just waiting in the wings: “Lia Thomas could one day be an Olympian civil rights lawyer . . . . Thomas recently applied to law school and is considering specialising in civil rights law, using her own experience to advocate for others.”
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/03/03/lia-thomas-swimming-upenn-interview-olympics-trans-kids/
If only Lia were also black.
Are there any trans federal judges? Biden’s handlers will be under a lot of pressure to make them the next pick.
The actual effect on the Court is probably to preserve the status quo.
The only minor counterpoint I would make is that Kagan has actually made some decent decisions as long as they are not do-or-die issues for the left. Sotomayor, on the other hand, is a consistent train-wreck. So is KBJ to the left of Sotomayor? I guess we’ll find out.
It was widely reported that Mitt voted NO on Jackson’s confirmation to her current job less than a year ago.
He’s voting YES after learning she goes light on pedophiles.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/05/romney-historic-vote-jackson/
physicsguy is right. Thomas will argue rings around Jackson.
PA+Cat (5:52):
“If only Lia were also black.”
He’s as black as he is female.
I think junior nailed it. KBJ now has a lifetime appointment to the most powerful court in the most powerful country in the world. If the Court ends up with a progressive majority at any time in the next 25 years, she’ll get to “make history” the way that progs always want to. That’s worth absorbing a little insult.
Further, I’m not sure that a progressive would consider it an insult. Even if they do, in about 5 years, everyone will write it off as Joe Biden beeing a doofus. (I think pretty much everyone will acknowledge that about five minutes after Biden leaves office.)
As for the Court, I think we’re better off with a judge like KBJ who appears to be another firebrand like Sotomayor than we would have been with another Kagan. Kagan is wiley enough to, every once in a while, pull along a Roberts, Kavanaugh, or Gorsuch to a progressive ruling. Sotomayer never has and likely never will.
The first CRT Marxist on the Supreme Court, pray she is the last, you will see when she writes.
And Breyer will step down at end of session in July.
White House Chief of Staff, Ron Klain, on CNN expressed disappointment towards the Republicans who didn’t vote for KBJ since, in his mind, she was one of the most, if not the most, qualified person to be confirmed as a justice; and that the Republicans that did vote for her were brave. CNN mostly talked about her being the first black woman, how historic it was and how Biden kept his promise for “breaking the ceiling”, and not on why she was “the most qualified person.” Go figure.
Not merely a straw but a bundle of straws has been put upon the proverbial camel’s back. Jackson’s radicalism will pull the ‘liberal’ side of the court to even greater radicalism. It will create even greater division on the court.
What remained of the S.C.’s professional collegiality will be reduced even further. For how can one be sincerely courteous to, much less respect not just an apologist for pedophiles who prey upon the most innocent but a ‘jurist’ who enables pedophilia?
Yet this will prove to be a more impactful event than simply the appointment to the ultimate judicial decision making court of its most radical member. As a social marker, it reveals that the democrat party now stands in support of ‘tolerating’ pedophilia.
If only tangentially, NAMBLA now has a major political party’s support. It matters not that the great majority of democrats may simply be putting political gain before all else. Consequences always stand above intentions.
With this move, the U.S. Senate has made a mockery of its presence on the U. N. Human ‘Rights’ Council. For if the most innocent haven’t the right to be free of the ‘toleration’ of sexual abuse, then ‘rights’ are but cynical propaganda.
No nation can nor should survive the official sanctioning of the toleration of the sexual abuse of children.
Destroy the children and there will be too few healthy families for the future adults will be too dysfunctional to create and maintain them.
He voted no. Would you prefer he’d have voted yes?
Apparently you missed the point.
I’m actually starting to be a little grateful Mitt Romney is in the Senate. Most other GOP establishmentarians, like Lindsey Graham or Mitch McConnell, are at least savvy enough to occasionally pretend they’re on the side of the voters who support them.
But Romney seemingly can’t resist confirming the impression of uniparty contempt so many on the Right have of Beltway elites. I don’t know how anyone can look at Romney and George W. Bush, two men who openly crave the approval of those who treated them like absolute gutter trash, and not understand the rigged game U.S. politics has become.
Mike
In a response to her biologist reply, I wish someone asked KBJ if she considered herself a woman.
And the three Republican defectors should be asked if they considered themselves vertebrates.
“…since in [Ron Klain’s] mind [such as it is] she was one of the most, if not [THE] most, qualified persons to be confirmed as a justice…”
Sure!
Just like Kamala Harris is “one of the most, if not [THE] most, qualified persons to be VPOTUS…”
And just as in the latter’s case, we’ll all, no doubt, be enraptured….
…even if Tim Scott has a few reservations…
https://www.foxnews.com/media/scott-judge-jackson-confirmation-hearing-hypocrisy
https://www.foxnews.com/media/tim-scott-joy-reid-race-ketanji-brown-jackson-supreme-court