MSNBC's 11th Hour host Stephanie Ruhle recapped Tuesday’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings by accusing Republican senators of waging culture wars for the sake of pleasing Fox News. While Ruhle accused Republicans of not dealing with facts, she and her guests omitted a few key facts of their own.
After playing a montage of Republicans questioning and criticizing Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, Ruhle turned to former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, “Joyce, you know who loved that line of questioning by the GOP? Fox News. Because it is part of the culture wars that have nothing to do with confirming a Supreme Court Justice.”
The idea that questioning a Supreme Court nominee about hot-button issues is launching a culture war is absurd. One clip Ruhle played was of Sen. Marsha Blackburn asking Jackson to give the definition of a woman, which could give insight into how Jackson views Title IX and whether transgender athletes have the right to compete in women’s sports.
It also matters in other areas. Later in the segment, Ruhle turned the conversation to discuss the GOP criticizing Jackson on Critical Race Theory, “the RNC posted this nonsensical tweet, tying Judge Jackson to Critical Race Theory. Well, Democratic Senator Chris Coons used his time to fact check that. Watch this.”
After a clip of Jackson telling Coons she has never used CRT in deciding a case or determining a sentence, Ruhle inquired of PBS chief Washington correspondent Geoff Bennett, “Is that all they got, Geoff?”
Bennett not only agreed that the tweet was “nonsensical” but took it a step further: “I talked to a number of Judge Jackson's supporters today who view the tweet to be racist on its face. That to suggest that Judge Jackson just by virtue of her very person, it is some kind of avatar for Critical Race Theory, that yeah, that does appear to be all that they have.”
Dropping any pretense of simply giving the view of his sources, Bennett sounded almost annoyed at the Republican argument:
This is someone who has been three times confirmed by the Senate, twice for a seat on the judicial branch at the federal level, and once for the Sentencing Commission, who has the support of the Fraternal Order of Police, of a number of police chiefs across the country, and some 83 retired state attorneys general. That it just doesn't hold up against the facts. That is not a partisan statement, that’s just a statement of fact based on her background, her credentials, and the many voices, Democrat and Republican, who have come out in support of her.
During the hearings, Sen. Ted Cruz highlighted Antiracist Baby by Ibram Kendi, which is taught at Georgetown Day School, where Jackson is a board member. So, not only is CRT in schools, but asking Jackson about its role in her school is a legitimate question that senators deserve to have answered.
This segment was sponsored by Progressive.
Here is a transcript for the March 22 show:
MSNBC The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle
3/22/2022
11:26 PM ET
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Joyce, you know who loved that line of questioning by the GOP? Fox News. Because it is part of the culture wars that have nothing to do with confirming a Supreme Court justice. So let's get to the facts. Our own Pete Williams provided factual context to that very case that Senator Hawley was referencing. Watch this.
PETE WILLIAMS: The specifics in this case suggests that this was a—an-- 18-year old who was curious about this kind of sexual activity that he sought out. The court records show that a detective, when he realized that this young man was uploading some of this, contacted him and said, how would you like to have real sexual activity with my 12-year old daughter, which was make belief. And this young man's never responded to him and there was a psychiatrist who evaluated the young man and said this was basically his sort of curiosity about a specific kind of sexual activity. He wasn't interested in younger people. He was just sort of curious about this for his own purposes that he was not a pedophile--.
RUHLE: Those are the facts. But the facts do not matter to the Republicans here. None of these things matter. It's a show to them. So are they actually asking her anything, or are they just creating soundbites to confuse the American people about who Judge Jackson is and what she represents?
JOYCE VANCE: On the one hand, Republicans complain that they didn't know what Judge Jackson's judicial theory was. They didn't know what principles she used when she went about the business of judging. But they asked painfully a few questions designed to figure out what her judicial philosophy was. And instead, they stuck on issues like this one. And I think Pete's explanation, of that one particular case that Senator Hawley focused on, really helps us understand the answers that Judge Jackson was trying to give. She was trying to explain some very difficult and nuanced federal sentencing law, which requires federal judges to consider a large variety of factors before they arrive at a sentence that—that-- is no longer, no lengthier than necessary to achieve the goals of the criminal justice system. It's almost mind-boggling to try to explain in just a few short sentences as the judge did how that process works. But Senator Hawley, a Yale-educated lawyer, should've known, should've understand that she was cabined by laws that—that—Congress is responsible for and seemed more interested as you say, Stephanie, in eliciting footage that could perhaps be used in a future campaign than getting to the heart of her qualifications to sit on the Supreme Court.
RUHLE: Of course, Joyce, Senator Hawley did know, he did understand. He's banking on the fact that his voters don't. Geoff, the RNC posted this nonsensical tweet, tying Judge Jackson to Critical Race Theory. Well, Democratic Senator Chris Coons used his time to fact check that. Watch this.
CHRIS COONS: Have you ever used, employed, relied upon Critical Race Theory to determine the outcome of any case or to impose any sentence, or as—as-- a framework for your decision-making?
KETANJI BROWN JACKSON: No, senator.
COONS: Would you just explain to us briefly what kind of factors you do, in fact, consider in your analysis? Senator, when I analyze a case, I am looking at the arguments that the parties raise in the case, I’m looking at the record, which is the facts of the case--.
RUHLE: Is that all they got, Geoff?
GEOFF BENNETT: Well look, you call that tweet nonsensical, I talked to a number of Judge Jackson's supporters today who view the tweet to be racist on its face. That to suggest that Judge Jackson just by virtue of her very person, it is some kind of avatar for Critical Race Theory, that yeah, that does appear to be all that they have. That Republicans today tried to paint her as a CRT activist, they tried to paint her as soft on crime, they tried to paint her as an advocate of people who would seek to exploit children. And yet, this is someone who has been three times confirmed by the Senate, twice for a seat on the judicial branch at the federal level, and once for the Sentencing Commission, who has the support of the Fraternal Order of Police, of a number of police chiefs across the country, and some 83 retired state attorneys general. That it just doesn't hold up against the facts. That is not a partisan statement, that’s just a statement of fact based on her background, her credentials, and the many voices, Democrat and Republican, who have come out in support of her.
