WASHINGTON — Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s mission is simple as her confirmation hearings to become the first Black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court start Monday: Don’t fall for the traps.
Jackson, 51, will spend three days testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, playing her role in what President Joe Biden, a former chairman of that panel, once called a “kabuki dance.” Like past nominees, Jackson in all likelihood will seek to skirt controversy and resist attempts to pin her down on divisive issues that might come before the court, such as gun rights and affirmative action.
Jackson has successfully navigated the process before. Last year she won confirmation to be a federal appeals court judge in Washington and in 2013 she was approved to be a district judge. But the stakes have grown, and Republicans, many still rankled by contentious hearings for former President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominees, may try to trip her up on key election-year issues like crime.
