In February, President Joe Biden introduced a prolific moment in US history; for the first time in US history, a black woman would be nominated to the Supreme Court.
The former public defender and judge on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit had long been rumored to be a top candidate for a seat on the high court. She had an Ivy League law degree and a federal judgeship, which made her a great choice for the Supreme Court.
While Democrats sought a bipartisan vote on Jackson's nomination, many Republicans still relitigating the confirmation proceedings of previous conservative nominees made last month's hearings a proxy on the nation's cultural fault lines.
Many Judiciary Committee Republicans used race, criminal justice, and gender dynamics as cudgels as they sought to throw Jackson off-balance despite her largely positive reception from the American public.
Lindsey Graham supported Jackson's appointment to the District of Columbia appeals court last year despite being nominated by Barack Obama to the Supreme Court.
The South Carolina lawmaker explained his vote against Jackson on the Judiciary Committee panel, saying that she was an activist to the core.
The nation&s escalating judicial wars have entered the newest stage.
The selection of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court by Ronald Reagan was praised by conservatives.
The nomination hit turbulence immediately.
The same day as Reagan made his announcement. Ted Kennedy criticized Bork's judicial philosophy on the Senate floor. The appeals court judge was an adherent of strict constructionism, which limits the interpretation of constitutional language to that explicitly stated by the framers.
Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, Blacks would sit at segregation lunch counters, and rogue police could break down citizens' doors.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 which banned racial discrimination in public accommodations was one of the reasons why Kennedy was indicted.
Bork was rejected by the full Senate in a 58-42 vote. In what was a stinging blow to conservatives, six Republicans joined 52 Democrats in opposing the nomination. They never forgot it.
The Bork proceedings continue to shape how Republicans approach high court vacancies.
It has a huge impact on the Republican side. He told Insider that they thought that was when they would have a majority of conservatives on the Supreme Court. It would have made a big difference. I think the Democrats played the politics well, even if Bork was not treated fairly. Bork did himself in at times. I think he didn't know what was happening. He didn't get the whole public politics of it.
Supreme Court nominees used to get a lot of Senate confirmation votes.
In 1986, Antonin Scalia was confirmed 98-0, Anthony Kennedy received a 97-0 vote in 1988, David Souter was approved 90-9 in 1990, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was approved 96-3 in 1993 and Stephen Breyer was approved 87-9 in 1994.
Clarence Thomas was narrowly confirmed to the Supreme Court in 1991, despite being accused of sexual harassment by a law professor.
John Roberts was confirmed as the chief justice in 2005, while Samuel Alito was approved as an associate justice in the same year. In the year 2009, Elena Kagan was approved 63-37, but in the year 2010 she was confirmed 68-31.
In November of last year, Senate Democrats decided to remove the 60-vote threshold for Supreme Court nominees and keep it in place for lower court nominees. After the new rules were put in place, Republicans were unable to block most Democratic nominees.
McConnell slowed judicial confirmations after the GOP took control of the Senate in January 2015 and after the death of Scalia in February of last year.
Garland, who was Obama's pick to replace Scalia, was denied a Senate hearing and a vote, with Republicans promising to leave the court vacancies open for the next president. Democrats were angry over Garland's treatment.
The Republican-controlled Senate voted to confirm Neil Gorsuch,Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy ConeyBarrett to the court over the protestations of most Democrats.
The testimony of Christine Blasey Ford, a research psychologist who accused the then-appeals court judge of sexual assault decades earlier, was featured in the confirmation hearings.
After Ginsburg died only weeks before the 2020 presidential election, McConnell set in motion a process to confirm her to the court that did not receive a single Democratic vote.
Since Biden took office, Democrats have confirmed federal judges at a rapid pace, hoping to make up for their past mistakes in shaping the judiciary. According to data from the Federal Judicial Center, roughly 67% of the president's confirmed federal judicial nominees have been nonwhite.
Jackson's nomination was supposed to cap off Biden's efforts to elevate the first Black female judge to the highest court in the land. That did not happen.
Graham used his questioning time to pick apart Jackson's record on sentencing for child pornography offenders, which many Republicans said was too light because she imposed lighter sentences than federal guidelines in several cases. The claims lack key context and data which show that Jackson's conduct was within the mainstream and that the guidelines were outdated.
Ted Cruz of Texas prodded Jackson about critical race theory, an academic discipline that examines how the legacy of racism continues to reverberate through laws and policies that exist today. He wanted to know if she thought babies were racist. Jackson said that no child should be made to feel as though they are not valued or appreciated.
Graham warned Democrats that she would not have received a hearing if Republicans had control of the Senate. McConnell isn't saying if he would consider a future Biden high court nominee.
I don't know what it will take to stop the downward spiral. If something isn't done, it means that the only time you can confirm a Supreme Court nominee is when the person in the White House is in office. It is bad for the president, bad for the Senate, and bad for the courts because of the public perception.
Jackson was confirmed in a 53-47 vote with the support of all 50 Senate Democrats and three Republicans. Three GOP votes were seen as a breakthrough in the current political environment because she was not a highly controversial nominee.
Many Republicans praised Jackson for her legal skills, but said they could not support her nomination because of her judicial philosophy or inability to pin down what she thought.
During the Judiciary committee hearings, Sen. Tillis remarked that he was impressed by Jackson's knowledge and character.
He told her parents that they had raised her right before the full committee vote.
He voted against her confirmation.
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