During an afternoon break Tuesday in Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearings, CNN NewsroomSenator Ted Cruz (R. Texas) ridiculed and rejected questions about critical race theory (CRT). “below the line” “reek[ing] of desperation” From “a clown”Who “put on a performance” In “the surreal.”
To be clear about how CNN views things, it’s out of bounds to ask about matters of race and concerning a place where Jackson serves on the school’s board, but it was perfectly fine to Smear someone’s deeply-held personal beliefs and You can accuseAnother possibility is to be a serial Gang Rapist. Throw ice, didn’t deserveDue diligence Had racist and sexist supporters.
The latter is the best case scenario. It was pure politics.
Jeff Toobin, the chief legal analyst of famous masturbator Jeff Toobin, reiterated several of his points during lunch about her in no danger losing confirmation. “[t]here have been a lot of Republicans who are trying to make political points.”
Toobin spoke out about Cruz’s invocation of CRT. “We had a trip to the surreal during Ted Cruz’s questioning when there was this extensive discussion of the summer reading list at the Georgetown Day School. The relevance of which was really hard to see.”
Is CRT really real? And if so, wouldn’t such an issue be pertinent to courts concerning lawsuits from parents or challenges to legislation against teaching it in schools?
Co-host Victor Blackwell cued up a clip of Cruz’s questioning (which included his summation of Ibram X. Kendi’s book Antiracist BabyYou can almost say it humorously: “Let’s take another trip down that summer reading list and get a reminder for people who were joining us later. Ted Cruz is the Senator. These were the pictures he had taken from Georgetown Day School’s children’s book.[.]”
Afterward, Inside Politics Sunday host and left-wing reporter Abby Phillip expressed support for Jackson having to put up with Cruz and that the school being woke actually fits with their mission of opposing segregation (even though CRT encourages racial resentment) (click “expand”):
PHILLIP: Her pause at the beginning of her answer really said it all —
BLACKWELL: Mmhmm.
PHILLIP: — in terms of just the level of frustration that it seemed that she had even while she was answering the questions in an incredibly, you know, sort of judicious manner. This is exactly the kind of thing that I think some Republicans had been concerned about because one of the problems with Senator Cruz’s questioning of her along these lines was that he asked her about Georgetown Day School and it gave her an opportunity to explain that when she talks about social justice in relation to Georgetown Day School, it’s because that school was founded explicitly to integrate schools during a time when the law required that public schools be racially segregated. He kinda set up softball to allow her to kinda undermine the whole avenue of questioning. Many Republicans are concerned because this is frankly embarrassing. This does not result in anything substantive and, as you can see, she is particularly concerned about the school her children went or continue to go to. There was definitely tension, but she responded to all questions.
But Phillip also went over the cliff into a ravine of hypocrisy on what’s acceptable at Supreme Court confirmation hearings:
It was Ted Cruz, holding photos of a picturebook, and at the end it seemed that Ted Cruz had lost sight of the importance of the nomination for the Supreme Court.
Blackwell was next to Natasha Alford, a CNN political analyst from the far-left Grio. She complained that “Cruz promised he would not allow a political circus to take place and he was a clown, right? He — he put on a performance. So much of what he said was getting at the culture wars in America right now.”
Claiming that Republicans weren’t “actually” talking “about her record”Instead, tie her up “really controversial”Alford complained about the same issues: “[T]here’s distortion. There’s grasping. There’s cherry picking of quotes and it all just sort of reeks of desperation.”
Blackwell, along with senior legal analyst ElieHonig raised the matter of Blackwell’s past record in relation to child sex predators.
Blackwell said he was baffled by the process. “that line of questioning”Honig was open to interpretations of any meaning, and he clearly agreed with this title. “a ridiculous line of attack” And “wildly misleading.”
Advertisers such as Priceline or Subaru helped to bring this disillusionment about asking Supreme Court nominees important questions in American society. Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant CNN transcripts from March 22, click “expand.”
CNN Newsroom, Alisyn Camerona and Victor Blackwell
March 22, 2022
Eastern, 3:44 PMJEFFREYTOOBIN: The bottom line is, Judge Jackson seems in good shape. Nothing has been said that could change the outcome of any vote from yes to no. Many Republicans have tried to win political points. Some of these were to her cost. Some were more costly for the Democratic Party. Ted Cruz was questioning us and we went on a journey to the surreal. There was extensive discussion about the Georgetown Day School’s summer reading list. This was difficult to grasp. However, I believe that you can see the general impression of the judge. He is calm and thoughtful, knowledgeable about law, and knows more than most senators.
VICTOR BLACKWELL (Alright.) Let’s go on a second trip to the summer reading list, and remind those who joined us later. Ted Cruz is the Senator. He had blow ups of pictures from these children’s books of Georgetown Day School in which we know — and there’s the judge taking a break as well — she is on the board of trustees of Georgetown Day School. Here’s what we heard from Senator Ted Cruz.
SENATOR TED CRUZ (R-TX) If you look at the Georgetown Day School’s curriculum, it is filled and overflowing with critical race theory, that among the books that are either assigned or recommended — [SCREEN WIPE] — they include a book called Anti-Racist Baby by Ibram Kendi. This book has some parts that I found really remarkable. The book states that children are taught to hate or be anti-racist by their parents. You cannot be neutral. In another section of the book they suggest that children confess to racism. This book is used at Georgetown Day School for students from pre-k to second grade. Do — do you agree with this book that is being taught that — that babies are racist?
KETANJI Brown JACKSON (Senator): I don’t believe any child should feel like they aren’t valued, or that they are less valuable.
BLACKWELL: Abby Phillip, the — the GOP has been telegraphing that this punch would come. The tweets were a bit cryptic, with KBJ being scratched out and CRT instead. Were you impressed by this exchange?
ABBY PHILLIP: Her pause at the beginning of her answer really said it all —
BLACKWELL: Mmhmm.
PHILLIP: — in terms of just the level of frustration that it seemed that she had even while she was answering the questions in an incredibly, you know, sort of judicious manner. This is exactly the kind of thing that I think some Republicans had been concerned about because one of the problems with Senator Cruz’s questioning of her along these lines was that he asked her about Georgetown Day School and it gave her an opportunity to explain that when she talks about social justice in relation to Georgetown Day School, it’s because that school was founded explicitly to integrate schools during a time when the law required that public schools be racially segregated. He kinda set up softball to allow her to kind of undercut this entire avenue of questioning. Many Republicans are concerned because this is frankly embarrassing. This does not result in anything substantive and, as you can see, she is particularly concerned about the school her children went or continue to go to. There was tension, but she responded to all questions. Ted Cruz held up photographs of a picturebook, and at the end it seemed like Ted Cruz was holding them up. This, I believe, is a case of Ted Cruz displaying pictures.
BLACKWELL: Natasha, you’ve been sitting with me here for the last hour and 40 minutes and you said several times during that, it is a private school. How did you react to the footage?
NATASHA ALLFORD: Ted Cruz had promised that he would never allow a political circus and he is a clown. He — he put on a performance. Much of his speech was about America’s culture wars. It was not about Judge Jackson and that’s what felt — that’s what I feel is playing out often with criticisms and sort of the questioning from GOP senators is that it’s not actually about her record. It’s about how can we take issues that are really controversial and somehow try to tie them to her, soft — being soft on crime or even CRT, which she mentioned in a long quote like criminal law or constitutional law. So, there’s distortion. There’s grasping. There’s cherry picking of quotes and it all just sort of reeks of desperation.
BLACKWELL: Elie! Let’s move on to the child pornography line. Ted Cruz claimed that Judge Jackson displayed activism and advocacy in relation to sexual predators and other sexual offenders. He is suggesting that Judge Jackson might be arguing against child porn. Like, what? I don’t — I don’t know what that line of questioning was about specifically. Which information did you find?
ELIE HONIG : This almost sounded like he was trying, which I think is a very absurd attack. Although I understand the argument to be wildly misleading, I don’t think it’s rude of me to say so. Let me tell you why. The judge must calculate sentencing guidelines in every federal criminal case. It’s a big thick book. The numbers must be run. It will then tell you what the recommended sentence range is. The judge is required to review it, but not compulsory. However, reality is across the country there’s a broad consensus, Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative, that those numbers — not unanimous, but that those numbers — tend to be too high in possessory child pornography cases and, if you look at the numbers, in nearly 59 percent of all cases, judges across the country sentence below that recommended range. We saw Judge Jackson do that in some cases, but not all. And she — I think her answer was right on point. In every case, my task is to examine the elements that Congress has told me. Then, I will give you a sentence.
BLACKWELL That is what he has already said.
About Post Author
