On the second day of the Supreme Court’s confirmation hearing at Ketanji Brown Jackson, Senator Lindsey Graham burned the candidate in her faith and judicial records before a runaway back and forth about the inmates in Guantanamo Bay. rice field.
From the beginning, Graham revealed that he did not support Jackson’s nomination for J. Michelle Childs in South Carolina.
Just a day ago, Graham said Childs’ nomination would have failed due to the Democratic “radical left” wing, and he, Senator Tim Scott, and several other Republicans would have supported the judge. rice field.
“The left-handed attack on Judge Childs was, to be honest with you, really pretty bad,” Graham told Jackson.
Live update: Supreme Court candidate Ketanji Brown Jackson talks about abortion, her faith, CRT, and Gitmo hearings
“Judge Jackson says he doesn’t have a judicial philosophy in itself. Well, someone on the left believes you are, or they spent money to take you to this chair.” Graham continued. A dark money group that raises funds for Jackson’s candidacy.
Graham summed up Republican dissatisfaction, saying that conservatives are more focused on philosophy than on someone’s “race.” Graham added that the Democratic Party and the press have hunted down other candidates Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett at a hearing.
“The media will be your biggest cheerleader. They are in your camp,” Graham said. “They have the right to choose who they want to choose. There is no such constant attack on you like Judge Kavanaugh and other conservative judicial appointments.
“They don’t ask any questions about where you go to church. What group you are in, how you decide to raise a child, how you believe in God. Believe it or not, no one intends to do so, “Graham told Jackson.
“And that’s a good thing. So you’re a lot of beneficiaries. You’re a beneficiary who upset the life of a Republican candidate, and that didn’t work.”
Kavanaugh was accused of sexually harassing psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford at a confirmation hearing.
last year, Politico reported The Federal Bureau of Investigation received 4,500 hints, but did not investigate them and sent them to the White House instead. In the letter, FBI officials said they were concerned that the Trump administration might have investigated or rejected hints about Kavanaugh.
Republican dissatisfaction with faith and terrorism is reflected in Graham’s series of questions.
The day after telling Jackson that she wouldn’t be “blamed” for her view of her faith, Graham spent a lot of time on her faith and how she interacts with it in everyday life. ..
“On a scale of 1 to 10, how loyal do you think you are about religion?” Graham asked.
Jackson said she was a non-denominational Protestant and her faith was very important to her.
“But as you know, there are no religious challenges in the Constitution,” says Jackson, talking about a group that hoped to separate their beliefs in the public interest and her personal views from her work. “I’m reluctant,” he continued.
Hearing flashpoints focus on Jackson’s record as a publicly-elected defense counsel for Guantanamo Bay inmates and how the Bush administration was called a “war criminal” in a brief description written a few years ago. It was a time. The camp had a high recidivism rate.
Here, Dick Durbin, D-IL, and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman intervened to add context to Graham’s remarks.
“On the Guantanamo issue, 39 detainees remain. $ 450 million annually. These detainees are detained at $ 12 million or $ 13 million annually, respectively. Florence, Colorado. If you were to be imprisoned in, it would be Supermax Federal Prison. The amount would be dramatically reduced. ” “Since 2009, with the inauguration of the Obama administration, the re-detention rate for Guantanamo inmates has been 5 percent.”
Graham turned his anger at Durbin and asked the Democrats if he would support the detention of Gitomo inmates.
Several international and domestic human rights groups aim to detain the suspect in Guantanamo Bay on 9/11, but the Third Geneva Convention, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), torture. It states that it violates the Convention against Torture. (CAT), and customary international law, including violations of illegal and indefinite detention, torture, inhumane conditions and unfair trials (Military Commission).
In a heated debate, Jackson said her work as a public lawyer for detainees was enshrined in the Constitution.
In response, Graham said, “As long as they are dangerous, I hope they all die in prison if they come back to kill Americans. Even if 39 die in prison. I’m a little worried. It’s a better result than letting them go, and if it costs $ 500 million to keep them in jail, they’ll be back in battle, so keep them in jail. Please. The thing on the left about this war isn’t working! “
Then the senator went out of control and said Jackson’s answer came up. “Red flag” For him, he hinted that he would not vote for the nominee, even if he had previously voted to nominate her to the circuit court.
If elected, Jackson, the judge of the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, will be the sixth woman and the first black woman to preside over the High Court.
This article was originally published in Greenville News: Senator Lindsey Graham suffers a storm at SCOTUS’s Nominee hearing