Poppy Harlow welcomes New York Senior correspondent for the magazine Important RBG Irin Cartmon is the co-author of Wednesday’s edition CNN Newsroom They met to talk about their hopes for Ketanji Jackson to be able change the minds of her Supreme Court colleagues regarding issues related to gender discrimination and abortion.
Harlow found a silver lining when Jackson became clear that he will not make the Court more ideologically sound.
I know she won’t change the balance of the Court, 6-3, but I wonder if you agree with Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times who wrote earlier this month, that maybe she won’t “change the Court, but she may very well change the conversation and that’s a start.” And she talks about how former Justice Thurgood Marshall, in her opinion, was able to influence former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor during their time on the bench together and I wonder if you think, perhaps, over time, Justice Jackson might do the same?
Carmon held out the same hope: “I mean, Justice O’Connor herself crossed the aisle several times on issues related to gender discrimination often, you know, even though she and Justice Ginsburg didn’t agree on a lot they did manage to find common ground when it came to cases that concern women’s rights.”
Carmon refers to the Fourth Amendment case that Ginsburg used to convince her fellow justices not to make a strip search on a teenage girl an unconstitutional.
Every day, every single term, the Court is dealing in questions of — of both racial and gender discrimination, justice, what are the proper remedies to those issues and so to have someone in the room for whom these are not theoretical, particularly yes, we’re expecting this case, this abortion decision that could be monumental, could overturn Roe V. Wade, it won’t be the last time that the Court considers abortion and often times these anti-abortion restrictions are made in the name supposedly protecting black women or black babies and so to have somebody being rhetorically addressed who can then in the room say, here’s the facts, here’s some lived experience in addition to their deep legal credentials, I do think makes a big difference.
There’s no need for “supposedly,” abortion restrictions do protect black babies and babies of all races. Also, it discredits Jackson as a neutral judge willing to overlook her personal beliefs and preference when ruling on cases.
Harlow wrapped up the segment by agreeing with the pro-abortion talking points of her guest: “It’s a really important point. Irin Carmon, it’s great to have you, sorry to have to be brief this morning, but we’ll have you back again very soon.”
This segment was sponsored and produced by Safelite.
This transcript is for the 23 March show.
CNN Newsroom with PoppyHarlow and Jim Sciutto
3/23/2022
10:00 AM ET
POPPY HARLOW: I know she won’t change the balance of the Court, 6-3, but I wonder if you agree with Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times who wrote earlier this month, that maybe she won’t “change the Court, but she may very well change the conversation and that’s a start” and she talks about how former Justice Thurgood Marshall, in her opinion, was able to influence former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor during their time on the bench together and I wonder if you think, perhaps, over time, Justice Jackson might do the same?
IRIN CARON: Yes, definitely something that we can find in history. I mean, Justice O’Connor herself crossed the aisle several times on issues related to gender discrimination often, you know, even though she and Justice Ginsburg didn’t agree on a lot they did manage to find common ground when it came to cases that concern women’s rights. And—and– Justice Ginsburg actually told me in an interview once that she managed to convince her colleagues to change their minds in a Fourth Amendment case that involved the search of a teenage girl by—
HARLOW
CARMON — Helping them to understand how intrusive it is, for example, being searched in the same way as a teenager girl. It certainly does matter and every day, every single term, the Court is dealing in questions of—of– both racial and gender discrimination, justice, what are the proper remedies to those issues and so to have someone in the room for whom these are not theoretical, particularly yes, we’re expecting this case, this abortion decision that could be monumental, could overturn Roe V. Wade, it won’t be the last time that the Court considers abortion and often times these anti-abortion restrictions are made in the name supposedly protecting black women or black babies and so to have somebody being rhetorically addressed who can then in the room say, here’s the facts, here’s some lived experience in addition to their deep legal credentials, I do think makes a big difference.
HARLOW: It’s a really important point. Irin Carmon, it’s great to have you, sorry to have to be brief this morning, but we’ll have you back again very soon. We are grateful again.
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