The famous "gonzo journalist" Hunter S. Thompson once
said, "Politics is the art of controlling your environment." The confirmation hearing of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is about to vividly show what Thompson meant. Less than two years after the abusive treatment of Justice
Amy Coney Barrett, the Senate is holding a hearing that is dramatically different in the treatment of the Supreme Court nominee and the issues considered relevant to her confirmation.
For those with memories going back to 2020, there have been striking differences in how the news media haved covered Jackson's nomination in recent weeks. When Barrett was nominated, the media ran unrelenting attacks on her and her background. Nothing was viewed as out of bounds, from her religion to her personal life to fabricated theories of prior assurances on pending cases.
From the start of the Jackson hearing, this is clearly different in both optics and approaches. Barrett was
surrounded by pictures of people relying on the Affordable Care Act, a framing to portray Barrett as threatening the very lives of sick people. It was all part of an absurd claim (fostered by liberal legal experts) that Barrett was appointed to kill the ACA.
I objected at the time that senators were
radically misconstruing the pending case and that Barrett was more likely to vote to preserve the ACA. (Barrett ultimately
voted to preserve the act,
as expected.)
Ketanji Brown Jackson's judicial philosophy is unclear and will be a key question at her Supreme Court confirmation hearings.
www.usatoday.com
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Very apt comparison between the Barrett and Jackson hearings.
