She let out an audible sigh.
The Supreme Court spoke for countless Black women who have had to gather all the strength and grace within to answer questions.
It was Day One of questioning at the Senate Judiciary Committee as the Harvard-educated Jackson, the first Black woman to be nominated for the nation's highest court, was making history.
The federal judge had to endure hours of public scrutiny from skeptics, the first in the court's 233-year history, and may vote en bloc against her.
Melanie L. Campbell is the president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation.
She sighed when she questioned Jackson's view of books on critical race theory.
The insinuations that Jackson, a distinguished jurist and mother of two, is a secret radical liberal or poses a danger to the safety of children felt to some supporters as yet another example of highly qualified Black women having to endure indignities and distortions of their credentials, even
Campbell told The Associated Press that the othering of her seemed like a tired political tactic.
My spirit believes it was to bring this black woman down because she is about to break the glass ceiling that opens the door to more.
President Joe Biden's choice of Jackson was a chance to make the court more reflective of the diverse nation it serves. They have been slow to bolster the judge's nomination against the relentless attacks.
During her hearings, Republican senators Ted Cruz of Texas, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Josh Hawley of Missouri asked if she regretted having a record as a judge.
No matter how many times Jackson claimed that the child pornography cases were the most difficult of her career, the GOP senators talked over her.
I can only wonder what your hidden agenda is, Marsha, pointing to one of the judge's earlier writings. Is it your personal agenda to make critical race theory part of our legal system?
The senators said their questions were not about race. Graham warned that the questioners would be framed as racist. It isn't going to fly with us.
Jackson's sentencing record on such cases is on track with other judges appointed by both Democrats and Republican presidents, and in some cases she went beyond recommendations to come down harder on defendants.
Jackson told the senators that in the hearing about his qualifications to be a justice on the Supreme Court, we have spent a lot of time focusing on this small subset of his sentences.
The Republicans cherry-picking of Jackson's record hurt her supporters.
The Democratic presidential campaign criticized the committee for not defending Jackson more vigorously.
Turner told the AP that she should not have had to endure what she did.
Jackson presided over 14 cases of child sexual abuse, interstate travel for child sexual abuse cases and child pornography during her time on the district court bench.
The American Bar Association's standing committee on the federal judiciary said in a survey of some 250 judges, attorneys, and academics that words such as "brilliant" and "beyond reproach" are acceptable.
Jean Veta of the ABA committee said that they uniformly rejected any accusations of bias.
In a letter to the Senate committee, a University of Missouri law professor and former federal prosecutor said he was dismayed at the thought that Jackson was somehow soft on these crimes. Other experts in the field signed his letter.
The Republican line of questioning has been proven to be false by fact check after fact check, according to the White House deputy press secretary.
Jackson had difficulty convincing the Republican senators that the rules judges adhere to and the wrenching cases they face are important. The judge's answers were rarely accepted by the GOP senators.
At one point, Jackson stopped answering, "Senator, I've said what I'm going to say about these cases." No case can stand in for the entire record of a judge.
Republican leaders in the Senate used the issue and her refusal to repeat earlier answers as justification for opposing her confirmation.
Black women filled many of the seats in the committee room. Some of the leading civil rights figures and members of the Congressional Black Caucus were included in those women.
LaTosha Brown said she had received a lot of text messages from Black women who were angry with Jackson and that she was determined to endure the process.
I just got some text messages that said "Persevere".
It was a reference to Jackson's own words of advice that he gave to young people at the hearing.
Brown said, "If we don't know anything else, we know what that word means."
There is a
Mascaro was in Washington. Colleen Long, Mary Clare Jalonick and Kevin Freking are Associated Press writers.
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