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Opinion: Anita Hill: The Senate Judiciary Committee mistreated Judge Jackson. I should know.
By Anita Hill April 7, 2022
Anita Hill is a professor of social policy, law, and women’s studies at Brandeis University.
The shameful spectacle of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson makes clear: The confirmation process is broken and the panel must act to restore people’s faith in it.
This is not simply about Jackson’s reputation, which was repeatedly smeared by Republican senators peddling false narratives about her supposed coddling of child pornographers and terrorists. It is about the legacy and future of the Senate and the Supreme Court itself.
I know something about being mistreated by the Senate Judiciary Committee. During the confirmation hearing for Justice Clarence Thomas in 1991, I was subjected to attacks on my intelligence, truthfulness and even my sanity when I testified about my experience working for the nominee at the Education Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In a spectacularly low moment, senators sought out slanderous statements from my former students.
In some ways, the committee has changed for the better since then: there are now four women on the panel and one Black member. Still, when I heard predictions before the hearing that Republicans would offer little resistance to Jackson’s confirmation, I knew, from painful experience, that assessment was overly optimistic.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/04/07/anita-hill-ketanji-brown-jackson-senate-mistreated/
Read more: (summary, no paywall) https://thehill.com/news/senate/3261616-anita-hill-says-she-was-shocked-by-senate-judiciarys-racist-and-sexist-attacks-on-jackson/
Anita Hill is a professor of social policy, law, and women’s studies at Brandeis University.
The shameful spectacle of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson makes clear: The confirmation process is broken and the panel must act to restore people’s faith in it.
This is not simply about Jackson’s reputation, which was repeatedly smeared by Republican senators peddling false narratives about her supposed coddling of child pornographers and terrorists. It is about the legacy and future of the Senate and the Supreme Court itself.
I know something about being mistreated by the Senate Judiciary Committee. During the confirmation hearing for Justice Clarence Thomas in 1991, I was subjected to attacks on my intelligence, truthfulness and even my sanity when I testified about my experience working for the nominee at the Education Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In a spectacularly low moment, senators sought out slanderous statements from my former students.
In some ways, the committee has changed for the better since then: there are now four women on the panel and one Black member. Still, when I heard predictions before the hearing that Republicans would offer little resistance to Jackson’s confirmation, I knew, from painful experience, that assessment was overly optimistic.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/04/07/anita-hill-ketanji-brown-jackson-senate-mistreated/
Read more: (summary, no paywall) https://thehill.com/news/senate/3261616-anita-hill-says-she-was-shocked-by-senate-judiciarys-racist-and-sexist-attacks-on-jackson/
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Great piece.
4 replies
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