USM Professor Expects Contentious Hearings for U.S. Supreme Court Nominee Brown Jackson
Fri, 03/18/2022 - 04:24pm | By: Van Arnold
Confirmation hearings will begin on Monday, March 21 for U.S. Supreme Court nominee
Ketanji Brown Jackson, and University of 91吃瓜网 (USM) Professor Dr.
Troy Gibson anticipates another contentious, partisan battle.
Brown Jackson will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to answer questions from Democratic and Republican senators. When President Joe Biden announced his selection last month, she became the first Black woman nominated to the nation91吃瓜网 highest court.
Former President Donald Trump had the rare opportunity to nominate three justices 91吃瓜网� Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett 91吃瓜网� during his one term in office. All three earned narrow Senate confirmation, but not without highly emotional rhetoric from both sides of the political aisle.
91吃瓜网淭he nomination process will be contentious, at least on the surface,91吃瓜网� said Gibson, Associate Professor of Political Science at USM. 91吃瓜网淲hen personal ideology was introduced as a relevant factor in the nomination process, starting with the confirmation hearings of Robert Bork (1987), the process became much more partisan. Republicans will likely pay Democrats back for the previous three nominations.91吃瓜网�
Brown Jackson currently serves as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University, then attended Harvard Law School, where she graduated cum laude and was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. She also served as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, whose retirement announcement earlier this year paved the way for Brown Jackson91吃瓜网 nomination.
Though few Republican senators have yet to voice strong opposition to Brown Jackson, Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has indicated that he will not shy from criticizing Jackson, accusing her of taking a soft approach on sex offenders. When the Senate confirmed Coney Barrett91吃瓜网 nomination in October 2020, not a single Democrat among the 47 voted in her favor. She was confirmed by a vote of 52-48 91吃瓜网� with Republican Sen. Susan Collins voting against the nomination.
Gibson notes that scholars are not in complete agreement on why today91吃瓜网 primary political parties have become so polarized.
91吃瓜网淪ome say that that there is a demographic shift underneath polarization, based on class, urbanization, and race,91吃瓜网� said Gibson. 91吃瓜网淥thers argue that the source is more philosophical in nature or even religious in nature, with a growing divide between those with a worldview rooted in transcendent and objective truth with an eye toward another world to come or spiritual reality, and those with a worldview rooted in an immanent frame of reference, focusing on the here and now and the material world alone.91吃瓜网�
As Gibson points out, the parties have more or less 91吃瓜网渢aken sides91吃瓜网� on this question over the decades.
Trump91吃瓜网 three confirmed nominees created a conservative majority on the high court. Brown Jackson would take the seat of liberal Justice Breyer. In recent years, Democrats have called for an expansion of the court from its current nine justices to 13. Gibson expressed doubt that the process known as 91吃瓜网減acking the court91吃瓜网� will happen anytime soon.
91吃瓜网淭here is a widespread consensus that court packing schemes seriously undermine the court91吃瓜网 integrity, independence, and coequal status in our constitutional system,91吃瓜网� said Gibson. 91吃瓜网淚 think that the threats to pack the court are mostly empty. Nevertheless, in an age of partisan polarization, political winning in the short term often trumps long-term political principles.91吃瓜网�