Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearing is a disgrace to her qualifications

‘Every Black woman on earth can relate to the cringing, soul-crushing feeling of having to answer – with grace and a smile – questions that your white counterparts would never be asked.’ Photograph: Shawn Thew/EPA

What should have been a historic moment for the first Black woman to be nominated to the US supreme court, has become a scene of childish political theatre, thanks to Senate Republicans. And as President Joe Biden’s nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson makes her way through the last round of questioning by the Senate judiciary committee, one thing is clear: she deserves better.

As the world watches the hearings unfold, the image from day one of Brown Jackson being grilled relentlessly by a group of old white men still sticks out vividly to me. Not only is she already being held up to far more scrutiny than any white man in her position would be, but the line of questioning from across the aisle has devolved into the absolutely ridiculous.