We Will Not Be Taking Any Questions on Ketanji Brown Jackson's Demeanor

We Will Not Be Taking Any Questions on Ketanji Brown Jackson's Demeanor

Let's return to the cursed time of 2018 at the Senate Judiciary Committee.

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(L) Photo by Andrew Harnik - Pool/Getty Images, (R) Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
Photo: (L) Andrew Harnik / (R) Saul Leob (Getty Images)

Monday marked the beginning of the confirmation hearing of Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Biden’s first nomination to the Supreme Court. She would be the first Black woman confirmed to the nation’s highest court.

The process begins with every member of the Senate Judiciary Committee giving opening statements, and every Republican has brought up the circus and hullabaloo surrounding Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings about three and a half years ago. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham want to conflate the hearings of accused sexual assaulter Kavanaugh with the very normal and drama-free Jackson.

The processes are not the same. Jackson has not been accused of sexual assault as a teenager or young adult, like Kavanaugh, nor has she been accused of sexual misconduct during any other part of her life. The reason her hearings are (thus far) boring is because she has been twice as good as her white legal colleagues.

Let’s return back to 2018 to see just how emotional Kavanaugh was and how he made the hearings a circus all on his own.

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Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing started on Sept. 4, 2018.

Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing started on Sept. 4, 2018.

US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh arrives on the first day of his confirmation hearing in front of the US Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, on September 4, 2018. - President Donald Trump's newest Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is expected to face punishing questioning from Democrats this week over his endorsement of presidential immunity and his opposition to abortion. Some two dozen witnesses are lined up to argue for and against confirming Kavanaugh, who could swing the nine-member high court decidedly in conservatives' favor for years to come. Democrats have mobilized heavily to prevent his approval. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Photo: Saul Loeb / AFP (Getty Images)

He was all smiles, but it wouldn’t last.

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The hearings would continue for days...

The hearings would continue for days...

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 04: Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill September 4, 2018 in Washington, DC. Kavanaugh was nominated by President Donald Trump to fill the vacancy on the court left by retiring Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Photo: Chip Somodevilla (Getty Images)

...with so many heated facial expressions from Kavanaugh.

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And tattered documents to show how much he cares about The Law.

And tattered documents to show how much he cares about The Law.

US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh speaks on the second day of his confirmation hearing in front of the US Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, on September 5, 2018. - President Donald Trump's newest Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is expected to face punishing questioning from Democrats this week over his endorsement of presidential immunity and his opposition to abortion. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Photo: Saul Loeb (Getty Images)

Kavanaugh’s facial expressions continued unabated.

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After four days, testimony ended.

After four days, testimony ended.

US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh speaks on the second day of his confirmation hearing in front of the US Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, on September 5, 2018. - President Donald Trump's newest Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is expected to face punishing questioning from Democrats this week over his endorsement of presidential immunity and his opposition to abortion. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Photo: Saul Loeb (Getty Images)
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But Kavanaugh would return to the witness chair before the month was out.

But Kavanaugh would return to the witness chair before the month was out.

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 27: Judge Brett Kavanaugh testifies to the Senate Judiciary Committee during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill September 27, 2018 in Washington, DC. Kavanaugh was called back to testify about claims by Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused him of sexually assaulting her during a party in 1982 when they were high school students in suburban Maryland. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Photo: Win McNamee (Getty Images)

On Sep. 16, 2018, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford went public with her sexual assault accusation against Kavanaugh. She had earlier written a private letter to Democratic lawmakers, but decided to publicly tell her story after four days of testimony failed to acknowledge it. Kavanaugh publicly denied her story: “This is a completely false allegation. I have never done anything like what the accuser describes — to her or to anyone. Because this never happened, I had no idea who was making this accusation until she identified herself yesterday. I am willing to talk to the Senate Judiciary Committee in any way the Committee deems appropriate to refute this false allegation, from 36 years ago, and defend my integrity.”

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He gave a nearly 45-minute rebuttal.

He gave a nearly 45-minute rebuttal.

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Another woman would publicly accuse Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct

Another woman would publicly accuse Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 27: Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh testifies before the US Senate Judiciary Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill September 27, 2018 in Washington, DC. A professor at Palo Alto University and a research psychologist at the Stanford University School of Medicine, Ford has accused Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her during a party in 1982 when they were high school students in suburban Maryland. (Photo by Saul Loeb-Pool/Getty Images)
Photo: Saul Loeb (Getty Images)

Deborah Ramirez shared her experience while the pair were students at Yale.

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Here’s Brett on Sept. 27

Here’s Brett on Sept. 27

US Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on September 27, 2018. - University professor Christine Blasey Ford, 51, told a tense Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that could make or break Kavanaugh's nomination she was "100 percent" certain he was the assailant and it was "absolutely not" a case of mistaken identify. (Photo by JIM BOURG / POOL / AFP) (Photo by JIM BOURG/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Photo: JIM BOURG (Getty Images)

Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 27, 2018. Read her full opening statement here.

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And why was Kavanaugh so angry? Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.

And why was Kavanaugh so angry? Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.

I’ll leave you with this exchange between Ford and Sen. Patrick Leahy. What’s the part that you remember most, Leahy asked.

“Indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter. The uproarious laughter between the two,” she replied. Her voice starts to crack. “They’re having fun at my expense.”

“You’ve never forgotten them laughing at you,” Leahy said.

“They were laughing with each other,” Ford corrected him.

“And you were the object of the laughter?”

Ford said: “I was underneath one of them, while the two laughed.”

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