Sen. Lindsey Graham voiced his frustrations with previous Supreme Court confirmation hearings on Tuesday during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson‘s nomination to the high court.
The South Carolina Republican relitigated controversial moments from the confirmation hearings of judicial nominees, including Justice Amy Coney Barrett, whom Graham said was treated poorly when she was questioned about her Catholic faith by committee member Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
KETANJI BROWN JACKSON VOICES ROBUST RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS OVER CHILD PORNOGRAPHY SENTENCES
Graham asked Jackson what her faith is, and she replied that she is a nondenominational Protestant.
“Could you fairly judge a Catholic?” Graham asked. Jackson replied she could fairly judge everyone.
Graham asked Jackson how faithful she is “on a scale of 1-10,” joking he only goes to church three times a year, “which speaks poorly of me.”
When Jackson said she was reluctant to discuss her faith in such a manner, Graham replied, “How would you feel if a senator up here said, ‘Your faith, the dogma lives loudly within you, and that’s of concern?'” — a reference to a question Feinstein asked Barrett during her confirmation hearing to an appeals court in 2017.
Jackson hesitated, when Graham interjected that he was asking the question to make a point.
“I thought Amy Coney Barrett was treated very poorly,” he said. “I just wanted to get that out.”
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Graham aired other grievances during the time allotted to him to question Jackson, including the stalled nomination process of Janice Rogers Brown, who was blocked by then-Sen. Joe Biden, and that Biden did not select his preferred nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge J. Michelle Childs, whom he described as the victim of a left-wing smear campaign.
Graham vocally supported Childs, also of South Carolina, as his preferred nominee and was considered a potential vote in her favor if Biden had nominated her. Graham appeared less likely as a winnable vote to confirm Jackson at Tuesday’s hearing.
