Someone else wanted to be the star of the show at Ketanji Brown Jackson’s SCOTUS hearings

Lindsey Graham performed for the cameras in unexpected ways this week

Leila Jackson, daughter of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, sits behind her mother at her confirmation hearing (CSPAN)

Everybody knew that the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Joe Biden’s newest pick, Ketanji Brown Jackson, were going to be tough. But few could have predicted that one Republican senator would thrust himself into the spotlight during such a historic moment.

Jackson is poised to become the first black female member of the highest court in the land, following a campaign promise by Biden. She conducted herself with dignity and restraint through three days of hard questioning this week by Republicans who asked her about everything from her positions on child porn to the details of her family background (Jackson comes from what has widely been described as a “police family”.) Even the compliments have been eyebrow-raising: when Louisiana Republican John Kennedy expressed pleasant surprise that Jackson, a veteran judge, seemed “intelligent” and “articulate”, the room held its collective breath. The sexism and racism underpinning that comment seemed abundantly clear. Outside the room, Tucker Carlson on Fox News was busy demanding that Biden release Jackson’s university law exam scores.

Yet the person who has commanded most of the media attention during Jackson’s hearings is not Jackson herself but Senator Lindsey Graham. The 66-year-old from South Carolina got dangerously close to repeating QAnon-inspired conspiracy theories when he implied that Jackson was soft on child sexual abuse offenders. He interrupted Jackson repeatedly before she could reply to questions he had about sentencing people who have looked at “child porn”, grandstanding repeatedly over his belief that it’s important to just “throw people in jail”. He also, bizarrely, demanded the justice rate her religiousness on “a scale of one to 10” – while fellow GOP member Ted Cruz brought up images from a storybook called Antiracist Baby and asked Jackson if she “believes babies are racist”.

A day earlier, Graham had stormed out the room after an unprompted rant about keeping Guantanamo Bay inmates “in jail”, whatever the cost. His performances looked very made-for-TV, and probably were: the networks are watching the proceedings on video link and will be hungry for dramatic moments. This is likely all about Graham positioning himself to Republican voters as “tough on crime” in opposition to the straw man of a “soft liberal judge”.

Knowing Republicans might be keen to position her as a hot-headed social justice warrior, Jackson has been careful to answer her questions slowly and carefully, in a low tone of voice. She has been through the wringer this week and proven that she can’t be baited into political arguments. Hers is a welcome introduction to a Supreme Court which swung conservative under Trump. There is a lot to celebrate – for the country and for liberals specifically – as she takes a seat at the bench.

Yours,

Holly Baxter

US Opinion Editor