Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson is a proud Miamian. Too bad Florida senators aren’t proud of her | Editorial
Miami-raised Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson is a proud Floridian, no doubt. She mentioned her local roots several times during Monday and Tuesday’s historic Senate Judiciary Committee hearings to confirm her as the first Black woman on the Supreme Court.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Jackson detailed her parents’ experiences with segregation in Miami and said their struggles lead to this day: “I am the first Floridian ever nominated to the Supreme Court.”
If only our two Florida senators recognized and supported the historic significance of this moment, for our state and for diversity. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott have failed to do so, with both expressing displeasure with Jackson’s nomination.
On Tuesday, Scott delivered an early salvo on Twitter - and he’s not even a member of the committee questioning Jackson.
Scott represents Jackson’s home state, where her parents were raised and where they raised her. The state where she graduated from Miami Palmetto Senior High with honors. The state where her mother was a school principal and her father was the Miami-Dade school board attorney.
Some 45 minutes before the second day of hearings began, Scott tweeted:
“I had a good meeting with Judge Jackson, but have serious concerns with her judicial record of being overturned & giving out easy sentences to sex offenders.
“We can’t have soft-on-crime justice on the Supreme Court & need to get answers this week.”
Scott is signaling Jackson is not fit because she has been overturned, something that happens to all judges, and because, he says, she goes easy on criminals at sentencing.. The most egregious is the first part of his concern because Scott is implying that Jackson lacks legal chops. She doesn’t, checking more boxes in terms of legal experience than several of her would-be colleagues on the high court.
Scott’s tone falls in line with those of the Republicans on the committee. Tuesday, they went after Jackson’s judicial record as too “soft on crime and sex offenders” and putting children in danger. Her response: “As a mother and a judge, nothing could be further from the truth.”
Committee members are also punishing Jackson for the disrespectful treatment they think Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh received during his 2018 confirmation hearings. That’s petty.
In fact, Jackson’s responses during the day mirrored those of Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh — resolute, while shedding just enough light to get the idea.
Rubio has expressed concerns with Jackson’s appointment, casting her as a possible policymaker, not a judge. That’s a fair line of questioning.
“I will not support any nominee that believes it is appropriate for judges to craft new policies and create rights instead of interpreting and defending the Constitution as written,” Rubio said.
No tweets from Rubio recently on Jackson. Rubio has kept his tweets this week on the Russia-Ukraine war and the evils of Vladimir Putin. Smart move.
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This story was originally published March 22, 2022 at 6:07 PM.