“When I was on the Senate Judiciary Committee, we did not ask that many questions about crime,” said Carol Moseley Braun, who represented Illinois in the Senate from 1993 to 1999 as a Democrat and was the first Black woman elected to the chamber. “So why are you singling this woman out? Is it because of her color? Because of her race?”
Judge Jackson’s composure inspired many of the women, who said they might not have been able to show similar restraint through days of such aggressive questioning.
“The way she was able to sit there, listen and be grilled, interrupted, over and over and over again on things that we know have no bearing on what Supreme Court justices do impressed me so much,” said Lynn Whitfield, 67, of West Palm Beach, Fla., who has been a lawyer for more than 40 years. “We all know that feeling of having to sit there with a smile on your face and be nice.”
That Judge Jackson, 51, was forced to display graciousness or risk being further attacked for losing her temper struck some women as deeply unfair.
“Some of those folks deserved an upbraiding,” said Dr. Gillespie, 44, the Emory professor.
She said she kept recalling the confirmation hearings for Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, whose anger was lampooned by the actor Matt Damon on “Saturday Night Live.” (“I’m going to start at an 11,” Mr. Damon’s character said. “I’m going to take it to about a 15 real quick.”)
“Brett Kavanaugh was allowed to do that, to show his righteous indignation,” Dr. Gillespie continued. “But if Ketanji Brown Jackson had done that, we’d be talking about the angry Black woman being temperamentally unfit.”
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/25/us/ketanji-brown-jackson-black-women.html
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