During a break in day two of Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Senate confirmation hearings on Tuesday, CBS News special coverage laughably tried to claim that the left-wing Supreme Court nominee “almost sounded like a conservative” as she answered questions from lawmakers. Later in the discussion, there was fretting over the war in Ukraine being a “distraction” from Jackson’s “historic moment.”
She gave an analysis of the proceedings so far in the 10:00 AM ET hour. ET hour: Jan Crawford, the chief legal correspondent for Gayle King. “…one thing that was, I thought, incredibly striking, at times she almost sounded like a conservative. I mean, she’s giving almost a tribute to the conservative methodology and interpretation of the Constitution.” She emphasized some of Jackson’s responses: “You look at the text, you look at the original understanding, you don’t really consider international law at all.”
Crawford then at least attempted to rein in her commentary – while still fawning over Jackson’s performance:
No one thinks that she’s going to be a conservative justice. She will serve as a liberal justice of the Supreme Court, based on her records. It was fascinating to see her willingness acknowledge conservative judicial methods.It shows that it has penetrated our consciousness. She will also hear the arguments on the Supreme Court. That’s a very important quality for a justice, to be able to hear and listen and exchange.
NBC carries special coverage from the hearing during the 11:00 a.m. hour. Eugene Robinson, a left-leaning political analyst tried the same argument that Jackson was reaching out to conservatives during ET hour.
She mentioned the word “text” again and again. That was interesting to me. To conservatives who believe strongly in originalism and textualism – she mentioned, you know, what did the founders intend? And I think she’s making clear that she is not a judge who believes the Constitution is what we think it is, you know, right now. It is exactly what it says.
He then summed up his notion of supposed judicial moderation: “In a way, it seemed to me she was saying, ‘I’m more Kagan than Sotomayor,’ in a way.”
The leftist media have a long track record of ridiculously trying to claim that liberal Supreme Court nominees are actually “moderate” or even “conservative,” as NewsBusters Director of Media Analysis Geoff Dickens recently documented. Naturally, when a Republican president nominates a judge to the Supreme Court, the same press immediately labels them too far-right.
After King finished talking to Crawford on Tuesday, she turned to CBS White House correspondent Ed O’Keefe for administration reaction to the hearings. Referencing President Biden’s upcoming trip overseas to an emergency NATO summit about the war in Ukraine, King fretted the deadly conflict was a “distraction” for the commander in chief:
Ed, We know that the President will be heading to Brussels for a NATO summit tomorrow.Is the Ukraine war a distraction to him at this moment in history? And do you think he’s watching any of these hearings now before he leaves?
O’Keefe assured her that Biden was “asking for regular updates today on the status of the hearings,” “keenly interested,” and would “be keeping close tabs today.” Hopefully the biggest international crisis since World War II won’t keep Biden too busy.
Special coverage was televised on CBS or NBC without commercials.
The transcript of the CBS discussion from March 22nd is available here:
10.12 am ET
(…)
GAYLE KING: Our chief legal correspondent, that’s Jan Crawford, has covered the Supreme Court for decades now. Good morning Jan. What are your observations from the testimony we’ve heard so far?
JANCRAWFORD [Killion] said and the issue of the sex offender, I mean, Senator Durbin used his entire 30 minutes to really try to rebut all the concerns that Republicans laid out yesterday that they had about her record, not only her sentencing for sex offenders but her judicial philosophy, her question – her views on court packing, her work on the sentencing commission and efforts to eliminate some of those mandatory minimum sentences that she did when she worked on that commission.
It gives her an opportunity for her to put her point of view before the Republicans ask her some very intense questions later in the day. And these questions – we heard from Senator Grassley on the Republican side – but these questions are going to get more and more intense as we get to some of these junior Republican senators on that committee.
I thought she used the clock very effectively, and that’s something that now the Chief Justice, John Roberts, did in his hearings as well. Your clock is your friend. We saw her talk through the cases, explaining why she was so concerned and the law at issue. This was evident in her answers to the first round of questions.
Gayle was the last thing I noticed. She almost sounds like a conservative at times. I mean, she’s giving almost a tribute to the conservative methodology and interpretation of the Constitution. You look at the text, you look at the original understanding, you don’t really consider international law at all. She said she might leave Justice Stephen Breyer, her ex-boss.
No one thinks that she’s going to be a conservative justice. She is a conservative justice, based on her records. However, I found her willingness to acknowledge conservative judicial methodologies interesting. It shows that this has penetrated our consciousness. It is also likely that she will be able to hear them on the Supreme Court. That’s a very important quality for a justice, to be able to hear and listen and exchange.
KING (Well, Jan seems to have it, Jan so far, so well for the Judge.
(…)
10.15 am ET
KING: Let’s check in now with Ed O’Keefe, he’s at the White House. Ed, the President is expected to travel tomorrow to Brussels in order for him and his NATO Summit. Is the distraction of Ukraine’s war a problem for him at this historical moment? And do you think he’s watching any of these hearings now before he leaves?
ED O’KEEFE: Well, we got a sense of that a little while ago, Gayle, when the White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki tweeted out that he was pleased with her – with Judge Jackson’s opening statement yesterday, grateful for those who introduced her, and said he’s asking for regular updates today on the status of the hearings. There’s nothing public on the President’s schedule of note and so this is believed to be in part a day where he’s preparing for those travels to Europe tomorrow.
But clearly as the former chairman of the Judiciary Committee who used to run these confirmation hearings himself, he’s keenly interested in this and we’re expecting that he’ll be keeping close tabs today. Evidently, the White House was pleased with day one and is pleased so far with things.
Jan stated that Judge Jackson was using time to her advantage and getting an early chance to refute some expected Republican arguments is a positive sign.
(…)
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