Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson faced Republican senators’ questions on the second day of her confirmation hearings.
She was asked about her “judicial philosophy” and how she will handle cases.
Jackson is the first Black woman to be nominated for the court. Here are four takeaways from today’s proceedings.
‘Stay in my lane’
Jackson has served both as a trial and appellate judge, but she asserted that her approach toward cases does not have a label.
“I am acutely aware that, as a judge in our system, I have limited power, and I am trying in every case to stay in my lane,” Jackson said.
She told senators her approach is “neutral” and that she wants to approach each case “without fear or favor.”
God and the GOP
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina asked Jackson questions about her Protestant faith.
“As you know, there’s no religious test in the Constitution,” Jackson told the senator, per Associated Press.
“Well, how would you feel if a senator up here said of your faith that ‘the dogma lives loudly within you’?” Graham said at one point, reviving Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s remarks about Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s Catholic beliefs.
Public confidence
Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar asked Jackson about voting rights, antitrust laws and freedom of the press, as well as what she thought of the waning public confidence in the Supreme Court.
Public confidence in the Supreme Court is fundamental to enforce court decisions. By accepting Biden’s nomination, Jackson said she hopes the public will see who the courts work for.
“This nomination, against that backdrop, is significant to a lot of people and I hope that it will bring confidence, it will help inspire people to understand that our courts are like them, our judges are like them,” she said, per The Guardian.
Defending democracy
Jackson told senators that if confirmed, she would work “to support and defend the Constitution and this grand experiment of American democracy,” per The Associated Press.
Her own story is a part of that history. She said that her story includes her parents, public school teachers who left segregated Florida, and her African name “Ketanji Onyika,” which translates to “lovely one.”