WASHINGTON — For more than 20 hours over three days, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has faced two rounds of questioning before the 22 members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, with inquiries ranging from her views on the separation of powers to substantive due process. But so far, no one has addressed the elephant in the room: Even if she’s confirmed to replace retiring Justice Stephen G. Breyer, Jackson won’t change the ideological composition of the court.
On the third day of the hearing, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota got the closest to making its subtext explicit. “The greatest dissents do become court opinions,” Klobuchar said, paraphrasing the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Klobuchar’s question — “What do you think is the purpose of a dissent?” — is one Jackson may find herself returning to again and again as she joins the court’s small liberal wing.
