If there were two takeaways viewers got from ABC’s Thursday special coverage of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson officially being confirmed to the Supreme Court they would be that Jackson is amazing and Republicans are bad for opposing her.
ABC News Live Prime anchor Linsey Davis could hardly contain her excitement as the votes rolled in, “The star debater from Miami Palmetto Senior High School responsible for lots of shards of glass today, as she smashes through now, this ultimate ceiling in the legal world.”
Getting fawning attention that Clarence Thomas never gets, Davis continued, “March 6th, 1857, was the Dred Scott case, that—that-- U.S. Supreme Court made the ruling at that time, suggesting that black people were not American citizens, that the Constitution did not include black people, and now, here you have her, Ketanji Brown Jackson, joining their ranks, she’s going to be sitting there, as a woman, in her black skin, in a black robe, on the highest court in the land.”
Davis also hoped that children will be able to see themselves in Jackson, “we have to just imagine the young girls, of all colors, of all religions, and races, who are watching this moment, and thinking, she did it, I can, too… what an inspiration for young girls as far as what’s possible.”
Anchor David Muir concurred, “No question about that, Linsey, they will now see in themselves Judge Jackson on the Court.”
As for Republicans, Congressional correspondent Rachel Scott praised the three Republican yes votes, declaring they are “doing it in a way to reject some of the corrosive politics that we have seen play out surrounding these confirmation hearings …even Republicans who are voting against Judge Jackson's confirmation, admitted that some of these attacks have gone a bridge too far.”
Nothing compares to wild allegations of being a serial rapist, but Scott lamented that Jackson had to go through “tense” hearings with “19 hours of questioning and then not to mention the 97 meetings that she had here on Capitol Hill, meeting with 97 senators, trying to earn their support.”
Later Davis returned to join in on the criticism of Republicans, “we saw with a lot of the questioning, from Senator Marsha Blackburn, or—or-- Hawley or Ted Cruz, a number of—of-- questioning that people thought was beyond the pale.”
Singling out Blackburn, Davis lamented “at one point in the beginning of the hearing when Senator Blackburn talked about ‘so-called white privilege,’ throwing that into even question, especially, which was interesting, considering the makeup, traditionally of—of-- the Supreme Court.”
Towards the end of the program, Davis returned to Jackson and in almost an infantilizing manner, praised her for dealing with those mean Republicans because black women have to be perfect:
today when we heard Senator Schumer say she is brilliant, beloved and belongs. And that was the same sentiment that—that-- Senator Booker kept talking about, that you belong here, that you're qualified, that you're good enough and I think that there is a sense in the black community, especially for black women, that you have to be perfect, that you have to be flawless, especially when you are the first.”
Jackson had to answer questions about her record and for that ABC has made her a hero.
Here is a transcript for the April 7 show:
ABC News Special Report
4/7/2022
2:01 PM ET
LINSEY DAVIS: The star debater from Miami Palmetto Senior High School responsible for lots of shards of glass today, as she smashes through now, this ultimate ceiling in the legal world and if we think about the history of this, right? That March 6th, 1857, was the Dred Scott case, that—that-- U.S. Supreme Court made the ruling at that time, suggesting that black people were not American citizens, that the Constitution did not include black people, and now, here you have her, Ketanji Brown Jackson, joining their ranks, she’s going to be sitting there, as a woman, in her black skin, in a black robe, on the highest court in the land.
And what makes this all the more remarkable is that there is such a small pool, you have such a small fraction of black woman on the state and federal level who participate as judges and while she is not going to be changing the conservative majority here, just the major shakeup in the makeup of the Court, as its been discussed from Senator Schumer, if you talk about 115 Supreme Court justices in the history, 112 of them have been white, only five have been women, and so for so long, the Court just has not reflected our population, and—and-- again, going back to—to-- Senator Schumer, when you talk about those eighth graders just lighting up, I mean, we have to just imagine the young girls, of all colors, of all religions, and races, who are watching this moment, and thinking, she did it, I can, too, and while we've seen so many firsts, I mean again, Vice President Kamala Harris once again presiding over this, and she said, during her inauguration, while I may be the first, I won't be the last, and—and-- we have to imagine that this is just the beginning, that—that-- she's paving the way, as a trailblazer for—for-- future legal minds, and—and-- so many, not yets, columns that have not been checked, so many firsts that we haven't yet, for women, and women of color, so just what an inspiration for young girls as far as what’s possible.
DAVID MUIR: No question about that, Linsey, they will now see in themselves Judge Jackson on the Court.
…
RACHEL SCOTT: Yeah, it appears oddly, Senator Graham, we are learning, just poked his head in briefly into a Republican cloakroom and gave a thumbs down, the—the-- gallery right now about three-fourths full, but they are waiting on Senator Rand Paul. So, this is the reason for the delay that we are seeing here on the Senate floor play out, as they are hoping to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, to the Supreme Court, as you are looking at on our screen right now, she does have the votes, in order to be confirmed, it is only a simple majority, 51 votes, so far 53 senators have voted in favor, they voted yes on Judge Jackson but right now we’re in a little bit of a delay, waiting on Senator Rand Paul to enter the chamber and move this process along.
You know, Republicans here, not a huge fan of Judge Jackson, obviously, the majority of which, voting against Judge Jackson. This confirmation process was very contentious, and you can talk to Democrats and a handful of Republicans, who’ll admit it was very toxic, that it was very corrosive, they didn't like the way things played out here on Capitol Hill, during these tense confirmation hearings, but Republicans, as much as they wanted to slow down the process, they could not stop it, even without the bipartisan support, Democrats had the votes that they needed in order to confirm Judge Jackson. And this just appears now to be one of the last final hurdles in this very long marathon process, to confirm Judge Jackson, David.
…
SCOTT: Yeah, and really the three Republicans who are coming forward to vote yes on Judge Jackson, very much so are doing it in a way to reject some of the corrosive politics that we have seen play out surrounding these confirmation hearings and that is something that Senator Lisa Murkowski noted, that she says it has become more detached from reality, year by year, the types of attacks that we are seeing, even Republicans who are voting against Judge Jackson's confirmation, admitted that some of these attacks have gone a bridge too far.
Some were offended by the president's promise to nominate a black woman, to serve on the Supreme Court, promises that Republican presidents have obviously made before, former President Donald Trump promised to nominate a woman, obviously nominating now-Justice Amy Coney Barrett, but these confirmation hearings were tense, 19 hours of questioning and then not to mention the 97 meetings that she had here on Capitol Hill, meeting with 97 senators, trying to earn their support, as she moved through this process. But in the end, only three Republicans coming forward, and saying that they will in fact vote yes, we're not expecting any other surprises here, David.
…
DAVIS: Certainly, and we saw with a lot of the questioning, from Senator Marsha Blackburn, or—or-- Hawley or Ted Cruz, a number of—of-- questioning that people thought was beyond the pale, and at one point in the beginning of the hearing when Senator Blackburn talked about “so-called white privilege,” throwing that into even question, especially, which was interesting, considering the makeup, traditionally of—of-- the Supreme Court.
But it seemed like, what we heard from Senator Schumer today, was kind of a doubling down on what Cory Booker said, of course, not as emotional as the way that, and with passionately, and as passionately as the way that Senator Booker talked about it, but today when we heard Senator Schumer say she is brilliant, beloved and belongs. And that was the same sentiment that—that-- Senator Booker kept talking about, that you belong here, that you're qualified, that you're good enough and I think that there is a sense in the black community, especially for black women, that you have to be perfect, that you have to be flawless, especially when you are the first, and then you're representing an entire culture, you're representing an entire race of people, and—and-- your gender as well, and you know, I think there was a sigh of relief just when the questioning was over, that—that-- she was able to remain so composed throughout.
