Ted Cruz Exposes the Problems in Ketanji Brown Jackson's Answers

AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson came up against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) as her SCOTUS hearing continued on Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. It did not go well.

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Cruz exposed multiple contradictions in her statements during questioning.

According to Townhall, Jackson was asked about Critical Race Theory (CRT) and she denied having anything to do with it. “I’ve never studied Critical Race Theory, and I’ve never used it, it doesn’t come up in the work that I do as a judge,” Jackson declared.

But Cruz pointed out that she gave a speech in 2015 saying CRT was a factor in sentencing, like other areas of law.

“I also try to convince my students that sentencing is just plain interesting on an intellectual level, in part because it melds together myriad types of law—criminal law, of course, but also administrative law, constitutional law, critical race theory, negotiations, and to some extent, even contracts,” Jackson said previously.

Jackson claimed that she was talking about “policy” and that it “didn’t relate” to what she did as a judge, but however she wants to try to wiggle out of what she said, she gave CRT weight and consideration, even according to her own words, as a factor to consider in making policy. If she thinks she was splitting hairs and getting out from under that one with her answer, not so much.

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Jackson also painted CRT as theory taught in a law school but Cruz had even more receipts, saying that the curriculum at the Georgetown Day School where Jackson was also a school trustee — and thus presumably has input into what is being taught — was “filled and overflowing” with CRT. The school is not a law school but a Pre-K-12 private school in Washington, D.C. Cruz pulled out a few of the books related to it in the curriculum, including a book about abolishing the police.

According to Cruz, some of the books were assigned or recommended for kids ages four to seven.

Jackson claimed that she didn’t know whether CRT was taught in the school, despite her position at the school. Then she tried to amend her prior answer and say she thought he was referring to public schools.

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Again this is an evasion of the greater point — she’s on the board of a school teaching CRT. This is what she is supporting or she wouldn’t be on the board there. There’s no way to get around that as a board member she’s involved in it.

Now, at least she recognizes it’s something that she should run away from, that she knows is going to hurt her chances, likely even with more moderate Democrats and getting any bipartisan support. If all the Republicans vote against her, she can still be confirmed if all the Democrats vote for her and Kamala Harris breaks the tie, but Jackson would need all the Democrats — she can’t afford to lose any of them. As I previously wrote, there’s already an open question about the Democrats hiding records on Jackson’s work on the U.S. Sentencing Commission as well as questions about her being soft on crime and pedophiles.

But her responses on Tuesday didn’t help her cause with Republicans.

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