CNN’s Coates on Jackson: ‘Almost A Legal Deity,’ Hope She Gets Due Process

Laura Coates, CNN’s senior legal analyst Laura Coates, joined CNN Newsroom on Friday to react to the official announcement of Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Coates says Jackson looks almost like a god-type character who descends from Mount Olympus. She hopes that Jackson will receive due process before her Senate colleagues.

While others in the media have described the liberal Jackson as a “middle of the road” nominee, Coates went well above and well beyond that. 

“I think she brings here is the knowledge of don’t we want somebody in the Supreme Court of the United States, only nine of them, to reflect the people of the United States. This is not only in scholarship however her credentials frankly sounded as if Mount Olympus decided to choose and give her each of the credentials and gave this great almost a legal deity of sortsShe gushed. “And yet she disrupted the myth that you had to be but one thing in order to be a Supreme Court justice.”

Coates also highlighted other parts of Jackson’s resume, her work, and “this notion that the Fraternal Order of Police also supporting, the notion that this is somebody as a defender, as a proponent of civil rights, as a proponent of fair sentencing and due process.”

Keeping with the use of legal terminology, Coates said she hoped Broan “will get the benefit of the very due process that she’s attempted to secure for the presumed innocent, because certainly after that resume, after that speech, she ought to be presumed, this next Supreme Court justice in the United States of America.” 

In 2018, Coates had a very different perspective on due process rights for Supreme Court nominees like conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh, but that wasn’t the first time Coates showed her hypocrisy. When Amy Coney Barrett was nominated, Coates wrote an op-ed mocking Ted Cruz for highlighting Barrett’s family life, proving again that Coates’s principles are up for negotiation based on party label.

Earlier in her remarks, Coates highlighted, “The idea of the intersectionality we’re talking about, about all the different facets of what it takes to be who she is was just profoundly moving to watch and to see.  And not the least of which as a mother to watch her speak about her children and about the reverence she has for her mentors throughout the field of law.”

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The transcript of the February 25th show is available here:

CNN Newsroom with Alisyn Camerona and Victor Blackwell

2/25/2022

2.26 PM ET

LAURA COATES:  I have to tell you, I, my heart feels full. I’m not sure I’ll be able to remove this smile off my face today. This moment is unbelievably special for me. Not only did I see the vice president of the United States on her, behind her, but also seeing this profoundly talented, eloquent, well-versed in the law and dignity and humanity, to relay why she ought to be exactly where she is today. 

Hearing her talk about not only her quest and love of the law, having her invoke the late Constance Baker Motley, speak about her own relatives having been incarcerated. My relatives have also been incarcerated in certain cases. The idea of the intersectionality we’re talking about, about all the different facets of what it takes to be who she is was just profoundly moving to watch and to see. And not the least of which as a mother to watch her speak about her children and about the reverence she has for her mentors throughout the field of law. 

But most importantly, what I think she brings here is the knowledge of don’t we want somebody in the Supreme Court of the United States, only nine of them, to reflect the people of the United States. Not just in scholarship although her credentials frankly sounded as if Mount Olympus decided to choose and give her each of the credentials and gave this great almost a legal deity of sorts. And yet she disrupted the myth that you had to be but one thing in order to be a Supreme Court justice. 

Her background as sentencing commission. Her background as a public defender. Her background in a trial courtroom. Her background as a district court and a D.C. Circuit Court judge. All of these things tell you that 99.999% of all of the cases of the Supreme Court will hear are not just the ones that get in the headlines, but those that profoundly impact the day-to-day in America of everyday people and to hear about this notion that the Fraternal Order of Police also supporting the notion that this is somebody as a defender, as a proponent of civil rights, as a proponent of fair sentencing and due process, I sincerely hope that she will get the benefit of the very due process that she’s attempted to secure for the presumed innocent, because certainly after that resume, after that speech, she ought to be presumed, this next Supreme Court justice in the United States of America.