Ketanji Brown Jackson Supreme Court

While Ketanji Brown Jackson's historic confirmation hearings offer hope for greater equity, the stark contrast of her demeanor and temperament with that of ...

Inexplicably, he continued, “I will recognize that all of us when we are students may have views that as time and maturity passes on we may change, but what troubles me is this was not just a law school view.” Instead, she winced, smiled, took a few notes, patiently waited for him to finish, then responded, “Respectfully Senator, those are not the sentiments that I expressed in my law school note.” Even though she clearly indicated that his characterization was inaccurate, he later condescendingly continued on as if she didn’t just refute what he said but instead admitted to changing her view over time. Indeed, too many of us can relate to the all-too familiar verbal gymnastics and non-threatening demeanor that Ketanji Brown Jackson must consistently employ to simply be judged solely on her capacity. Indeed, throughout these hearings, Ketanji Brown Jackson has without a doubt given a masterclass on how Black women have to psychologically and linguistically contort themselves to be successful in majority-white, sometimes hostile professional spaces. As Cruz held up books that he said were either assigned or recommended by Georgetown Day School challenging her to testify as to her comfort level, Jackson seemed to search for a way to gently, ever so politely request to be asked questions germane to her role as a jurist. Watching this gut-wrenching exchange, feels reminiscent of the embarrassing incident when Trump responded to journalist April Ryan’s question about revitalizing inner cities by asking her to schedule a meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus, suggesting they were friends of hers. Republican Senators are treating Ketanji Brown Jackson like she is the gatecrasher ruining their son's graduation party,” insists Karen Fleshman, founder of workplace workshop facilitation company Racy Conversations. “It is crystal clear that Ketanji Brown Jackson more than earned her seat on the Supreme Court. Yet if she were to respond to the attacks on her how Kavanaugh responded, she would be cast as a shrew and be scorned.” They don’t come up in my work as a judge which I’m respectfully here to address.” She continued on, but was abruptly interrupted by Cruz when she pivoted to more judicially relevant specifics, “In my work as a judge which is evidenced from my near decade on the bench…” Cruz begins by leaning into a long-standing microaggression that Black professionals are often subjected to—expecting a Black professional to be an authority on racial issues and concepts and/or denounce any Black leaders that that they might find off-putting. Her response was not just the epitome of grace and restraint but arguably the result of many, many years of practice deflecting disrespectful comments, suppressing visceral emotions and choosing self-control. Labelling his tone “defiant” NPR’s 2018 article “Brett Kavanaugh Offers Fiery Defense in Hearing That Was a National Cultural Moment” concluded that while the hearing covered significant substantive content, a key lasting observation would be his tone. Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee is daunting for any Supreme Court nominee, but this week Ketanji Brown Jackson does so with an additional pressure that no other nominee has had in the Supreme Court’s 233 year history—navigating potential tone-policing as a Black woman in a white-dominant space.