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On Friday morning, President Joe Biden finally announced his Supreme Court pick: current Judge Kentanji Brown Jackson. President Biden will officially nominate Jackson to replace Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer when Breyer retires at the end of this term. Judge Jackson is currently serving as a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a court she was named to less than a year ago.
Biden tweeted, “I’m proud to announce that I am nominating Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the Supreme Court. Currently serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, she is one of our nation’s brightest legal minds and will be an exceptional Justice.”
If confirmed, Jackson would replace Justice Breyer whom she clerked for in 1999. After three clerkships, she served as special counsel at the U.S. Sentencing Commission, followed by three years as a public defender, then private practice during which she served as vice-chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission. In 2012 President Obama nominated her to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia where she served until her current appointment last year.
Her nomination drew immediate praise from Democrats and left-leaning judicial activist groups, primarily centering around her status as the potential first black woman to be named to the Court, as well as her time as a public defender.
Patrick Gaspard, president and CEO of the far-left Center for American Progress, said,
“Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson would bring a stellar record of accomplishment to the Supreme Court and an exemplary background that reflects the Biden administration’s commitment to nominating exceptional judges at every level … Her nomination comes at a critical time, as a right-wing majority has hijacked the court to gut federal voting rights protections, undermine labor unions, and very likely overturn abortion rights that have stood for half a century.”
Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., tweeted: “We are celebrating a historic moment as President Biden nominates Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the US Supreme Court. She has pursued justice her entire career and brings a masterful command of the law, outstanding credentials, and broad legal experience to the Court. #SheWillRise.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., tweeted, “The historic nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is an important step toward ensuring the Supreme Court reflects the nation as a whole As the first Black woman Supreme Court Justice in the Court’s 232-year-history, she will inspire countless future generations of Americans.”
However, Republicans and conservative groups have expressed serious concerns.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said, “I look forward to meeting with her in person and studying her record, legal views, and judicial philosophy.”
He said that he had voted against Jackson’s confirmation a year ago and added,
“Since then, I understand that she has published a total of two opinions, both in the last few weeks, and that one of her prior rulings was just reversed by a unanimous panel of her present colleagues on the D.C. Circuit. I also understand Judge Jackson was the favored choice of far-left dark-money groups that have spent years attacking the legitimacy and structure of the Court itself.”
And conservative grassroots activist group Heritage Action said,
Conservatives should firmly oppose Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Judge Jackson is a hand-picked selection from far-Left groups like Demand Justice, who fully expect her to rule according to their progressive judicial philosophy rather than uphold the Constitution. During her tenure on the D.C. Court of Appeals, she has assembled a judicial record that prioritizes the abortion industry and illegal immigration interest groups ahead of a faithful interpretation of the law. Not only is Judge Jackson the wrong pick for the Court, but Biden’s timing of the announcement is shameful given Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Jackson has made no rulings on abortion, but a brief she filed in support of NARAL, a pro-abortion group, seeking to stop pro-life protesters from gathering outside abortion clinics has pro-abortion groups excited and pro-life groups concerned.
NARAL tweeted, “BREAKING: Ketanji Brown Jackson is President Biden’s nominee to the Supreme Court. We need a justice on the bench who will uphold reproductive freedom. This historic nomination is a chance to shape the Court for decades to come.”
Planned Parenthood tweeted, “Some GOOD news!! Judge Jackson is making history. This nomination arrives as our rights are in crisis, and we believe Judge Jackson will bring a commitment to the Court to protect our individual liberties, including reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights. #JusticeForAll”
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List, said,
“Ketanji Brown Jackson is backed by many of America’s most radical pro-abortion groups. She is on record opposing the free speech rights of pro-life advocates pleading to save lives outside abortion centers and supporting the false claim that abortion is ‘health care.’ We have no doubt she will work with the most pro-abortion administration in history to enshrine abortion on demand nationwide in the law.”
Jackson also has not made rulings on other contested issues such as guns or religious liberty. Jackson ruled in 2018 against the Trump administration in a labor case. In 2019 Jackson ruled former White House counsel Don McGahn had to testify before Congress. Recently she ruled that Trump had to turn over records to the House due to its investigation of the January 6th incident. Many of her rulings have been overturned.
When she was approved for her current appointment Jackson received three Republican votes, Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), and Susan Collins (Maine). Of her recent nomination, Collins said, “Ketanji Brown Jackson is an experienced federal judge with impressive academic and legal credentials. I will conduct a thorough vetting of Judge Jackson’s nomination and look forward to her public hearing … and to meeting with her in my office.” Graham said, “If media reports are accurate, and Judge Jackson has been chosen as the Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Breyer, it means the radical Left has won President Biden over yet again.
While it comes as no real surprise that President Biden’s pick for the Supreme Court received gushing praise from Planned Parenthood, this is sadly further confirmation that one of the two major parties in America is entirely beholden to the ghastly and murderous abortion industry. If we were a serious and moral society, neither one of our major parties would support something as horrendous as the fictional right to take the life of an unborn child in the womb. So, while it is perhaps expected, for Christians and churches across our country, this should never be tolerated or accepted as the status quo.
The Senate should give Judge Jackson a fair and impartial hearing, judging her on the merits of her credentials, career, her record of jurisprudence, and her judicial philosophy. Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, provided a good model for how to think about judging a Supreme Court Justice, explaining, “I will closely scrutinize her record, as I firmly believe that justices must hold fidelity to the Constitution and the proper role of a judge—that of an impartial jurist, not a robed partisan.”
The bottom line, however, is that any justice that truly holds fidelity to the Constitution, and declines to legislate from the bench, will rule in favor of overturning Roe v. Wade and ending legally protected abortion in the United States. Planned Parenthood’s early endorsement of Jackson gives clear-thinking Christians everywhere serious cause for concern that she would, in fact, meet this standard. Thus, if it becomes even more evident that Judge Jackson supports the fictional right to abortion, she must be forcefully opposed by Christians everywhere. When it comes to ending abortion, we must fight like it is a matter of life or death — because, for the unborn, it actually is.
