This Supreme Court nomination will likely have major implications for all kinds of legal questions for decades to come.

From Fox News. The Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will begin Monday in the Senate, marking President Biden’s first nomination to the high court….

View Comments (14)

Jackson is a Harvard Law School graduate who was most recently confirmed last spring in a 53-44 vote to serve on the powerful U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She previously was a Senate-confirmed federal district court judge, member of the United States Sentencing Commission, a federal public defender and a private attorney at four elite law firms.

The schedule

Four days of hearings are scheduled for the Senate Judiciary Committee from March 21-25. The long days of questioning for Jackson will be Tuesday and Wednesday.

Monday will be a day of introductory statements starting at 11 a.m. ET.

Opening statements will be 10 minutes from each of the 22 Senate Judiciary Committee members, five minutes from the outside introducers — retired federal appeals court Judge Thomas Griffith and Professor Lisa Fairfax of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School – and 10 minutes from Judge Jackson herself.

Tuesday is when the 22 senators will begin questioning Judge Jackson starting at 9 a.m. ET.

Senators will have the opportunity to ask questions for 30 minutes each in order of seniority. Tuesday’s testimony is expected to last well into the evening.

Wednesday will be the second day of questions for Judge Jackson starting at 9 a.m. ET.

Each of the 22 senators can ask a second round of questions for 20 minutes each. Afterward, the Senate Judiciary Committee will meet privately and will be permitted to ask Jackson about any material contained in her FBI background investigation. This closed session is standard for every Supreme Court nominee, regardless of whether the background investigation has raised concerns, according to the committee.

Thursday will include testimony from outside witnesses starting at 9 a.m. ET. Judge Jackson will not be present on Day 4.

The witnesses will include the American Bar Association, friends and colleagues speaking on behalf of Judge Jackson and Republican-picked opposition speakers such as victims or losing parties in Judge Jackson’s cases.

Statements from the witnesses will be five minutes each, and question rounds from senators will also be five minutes each….

The issues

Democrats have touted Judge Jackson’s unique record as a public defender from 2005 to 2007, but Republicans have sought to portray her work as having special empathy for convicted criminals….

One area of specific controversy is the work she did as a public defender representing four Guantanamo Bay detainees, which some Republicans have depicted as “defending terrorists.” Judge Jackson said in a written response to the committee that ethics rules that apply to lawyers mean an “attorney has a duty to represent her clients zealously” regardless of personal views….

Judge Jackson’s decisions on executive privilege are also under scrutiny. Perhaps her most high-profile opinion came on the D.C. District Court in the case between the House Judiciary Committee and former White House counsel Don McGahn. McGahn was ordered by Trump not to testify before the committee, despite a subpoena citing executive privilege.

Jackson ruled that McGahn could be forced to testify, writing that “presidents are not kings.”

And some Republicans have sought to paint Jackson as too soft on criminals, based in part on her work on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which reduced sentences for drug offenders by addressing the disparity between crack and powder cocaine drug crimes. The reforms had bipartisan support at the time.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has been raising concerns over what he said was lax sentencing of about 10 child pornography offenders by Judge Jackson, suggesting a pattern of going soft on certain criminal defendants. “I’m concerned that this a record that endangers our children,” Hawley said….

Republicans also plan to press Judge Jackson whether she agrees with liberal groups backing her, such as Demand Justice, that have pushed to expand the Supreme Court with additional justices….

The stakes

If confirmed, Judge Jackson will make history, fulfilling President Biden’s campaign promise to name the first Black woman to the Supreme Court….

The ideological makeup of the court will remain the same with a 6-3 split in favor of justices appointed by Republican presidents….

Share your prayers for the hearings in the comments.

(Excerpt from Fox News. Photo Credit: Getty Images)