Don't Call Jackson's Confirmation A Win For "Bipartisanship"

 

 

It should be all over by early this afternoon:  Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will be confirmed by the Senate to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.  One of the most qualified jurists to be nominated to the Court and, of course, the first African American woman, Jackson's confirmation is already being touted as a win for "bipartisanship."   The Boston Globe's Renee Graham explains why that characterization is a farce and provides cover to a rotted out, deranged cult:

This isn’t a boost for bipartisanship. What it represents is evidence of a party so poisoned by its own ideologies that most Republicans, including every GOP member of the Judiciary Committee, denied their support to the most qualified Supreme Court nominee in decades.  [snip]

So whatever you call this, don’t call it bipartisanship. That lets craven Republicans off the hook. They should instead be tarred by their own hypocrisy. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said there’s “no question” that Jackson is qualified for the high court, but he won’t vote to put her there. Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska praised Jackson’s “impeccable credentials and a deep knowledge of the law,” but he opposes her confirmation.

Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri twisted himself into knots Sunday when he said he would not support Jackson but “would be joining others in understanding the importance of this moment.” It’s a moment to which Blunt and most of his GOP Senate colleagues can make no claim, because they embraced rank partisanship, racism, and the QAnon lunacies they invited into their party. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the repellent Republican extremist from Georgia, even called Collins, Murkowski, and Romney “pro-pedophile” for supporting Jackson.

That three Republicans exited the GOP clown car long enough to back Jackson’s historic nomination isn’t a sign that their party is climbing out of its bottomless depths. In any case, their political risk is mitigated by the fact that Jackson’s confirmation won’t change the court’s ideological makeup. Conservatives hold a 6-3 advantage now and will continue to do so when Jackson takes outgoing Justice Stephen Breyer’s seat on the bench.  [snip]

By definition, bipartisanship is “cooperation, agreement, and compromise between two political parties that usually oppose each other’s policies.” Republicans offered no such thing and neither history nor Biden should give them a pass for their many transgressions. The only victory worthy of headlines and celebration is that a Black woman whose exemplary credentials Republicans tried and failed to impugn will soon be on the Supreme Court. 

Let's, indeed celebrate that, but never give even a shred of credit to anyone from the cult of Trump for this moment in history.

(Photo:  Human excrement Texas Sen. "Cancun Ted" Cruz (Sedition-TX) in mid- smear at Judge Jackson's hearing/ Carolyn Kaster, AP)