Courts

Ketanji Brown Jackson Comes To The Stage. Let The Commencement Begin!

There was little to no discussion of beer. Jury still out on if she likes wine.

Young woman working with a tablet

“Maybe that will be me some day too”

Day 1 of ye olde confirmation hearing is here and I’ve got the rundown for you. My thoughts on this are likely the same as many of you reading this, namely:

  1. We just might get the adult confirmation we’ve been due.

2) Ketanji Brown Jackson’s CV is so sensational they might just have to say the quiet part out loud at this point. I wonder what would make her not right for the job, considering the whole textbook excellence thing she has going on.

That said, empiricism is alive here at ATL — here’s what I’ve brought back after diving deep into Twitter for hot takes and and those who give them.

Umm…Ted Cruz decided to make his opening statement about Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas’s alleged misconduct instead of just starting with questions about KBJ’s judicial philosophy like a normal person.

Marsha Blackburn showed her whole ass on national television:

https://twitter.com/michaelbusby/status/1505995123594735616

Let it be said — major kudos to Judge Jackson for reigning in the side eye at this ridiculousness. Really goes to show what a decade of being impartial looks like in practice.

It is good to know I’m not the only one that is surprised to see folks fight tooth and nail to maintain hold of 66% of SCOTUS votes like their backs are against the wall:

Besides Trump People, Marsha Blackburn and Josh Hawley, it is kind of hard to find takes other than support for her:

And so comes the close of day 1. I’m sure tomorrow will consist of hard hitting questions like “Why can’t I say it if you can? Do you say it? The American people deserve to know if you say it,” and “Is there really nothing bad attached to your name? Your record being this clean is kind of suspicious. Parking tickets or something?” Time will tell. In the meantime, here are the words from the woman of the hour herself — I won’t do them a disservice by summarizing them. Go on, read some excellence.


Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.