Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's ongoing Supreme Court confirmation hearing has frequently veered in unpredictable directions. In addition to the usual questions about jurisprudence, the Supreme Court nominee has fielded queries from senators about subjects ranging from "racist babies" children's books to groundless implications that she is somehow sympathetic to child molesters. Amidst the broad spectrum of subjects, one line of Republican questioning against Jackson has gained attention — namely, when she was asked to define "woman."
The series of questions began on Tuesday with Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee when she asked Jackson, "Can you provide a definition for the word 'woman'?" When Jackson replied that she is not a biologist, Blackburn denounced her for not giving "a straight answer about something as fundamental as what a woman is," blaming Jackson's statement on "the kind of progressive education that we are hearing about" and decrying how "our taxpayer-funded institutions permitted a biological man to compete and be a biological woman in the N.C.A.A. swimming championships."
