Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Bonus: Harry Litman Day 2 Ketanji Brown Jackson Confirmation Hearing Recap

Episode Date: March 23, 2022

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson hits a homerun! The “most effective confirmation hearing I have ever seen!!!” says Harry Litman reporting on Day 2 exclusively for MeidasTouch. Follow Harry Litman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/harrylitman Subscribe to Harry's podcast 'Talking Feds': https://www.talkingfeds.com/ Remember to subscribe to ALL the Meidas Media Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://pod.link/1510240831 Legal AF: https://pod.link/1580828595 The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://pod.link/1595408601 The Influence Continuum: https://pod.link/1603773245 Kremlin File: https://pod.link/1575837599 Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://pod.link/1530639447 Zoomed In: https://pod.link/1580828633 The Weekend Show: https://pod.link/1612691018 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right, hello, my this my this is Harry litman of talking feds L.A. Times and the sort of nerdy circle of Supreme Court Watchers and here's your day to report Let me cut to the chase It was a really good day for Katanji Brown Jackson and the headline is she is still on a glide path to confirmation Probably after the day even a little bit more downhill. This is the killer marathon day, the first day of questioning 22 rounds of a half hour each. They are not even done with it yet, but they are slogging on and by its nature, most of it is forgettable, but not all of it.

And there were some memorable moments today. I think maybe a sort of hour that was the most exciting, you could even say hard word for supreme with confirmation hearings and definitely effective. I've ever seen in my years of following these things. Okay. So the best way to trace today, I think is through the efforts of her antagonist to try to draw blood. And there are sort of four of them.

Cruz caught in Holly and Marcia Blackburn still to come. So Senator Cruz tried to be very sort of high-minded and engaged her on arcane questions of judicial philosophy. There were actually a few times I thought this was in a very good day for her, her probably lowest moment. She seemed a little bit off balance once or or twice, nothing serious, but it seemed as if the the dynamic was a little bit in Cruz's favor. But she definitely

then took it to heart and thought more about it. And so Holly, as he had previewed yesterday, came out of the box really focused on this child pornography set of cases, which they obviously believe is the best way to make her look bad. It's actually kind of a dubious choice. Her sentences here are absolutely in line

with what other judges have done and are doing and the Sensing Commission itself says that things are out of whack here because they were originally promulgated for a pre-internet era. And now the numbers of these are out of control, how people get them, et cetera. But she made the pushback pretty well

and did more of the same then with poor Senator Cotton. But she made the pushback pretty well and did more of the same then with poor Senator Cotton, who after his half hour, I thought there was just blood on the floor. He tried to both push back on these cases and gave her an opportunity to say as a mother and a person, of course, how much they concern and offender, but able to make the case, this is where the law forced her to go. And I thought that Jackson really got her stride here and gave the right answer after right

answer as Kotlin got increasingly frustrated saying, look, this, I apply your policy. This is for you guys. If you, you know, he asked her again and again, should there be harsher sentences or more sentences? And, you know, rather than playing footsie on that at all, she in a pretty authoritative judge way, I thought just took him to school and said, you know, in this in our system here, it's for Congress to decide and he got increasingly frustrated. He obviously wasn't even listening to her. And, you know, she actually has challenges. It shouldn't be this way, but for an African American woman, she's got maybe a more narrow ban length to really push back, but she did and very effectively. And he was

followed immediately after was caught in by Senator Booker, who, as say, other senators, white side, and Coons were prepared because they knew they were following, you know, bad guys to sort of basically make her case for her. Booker did it, but in this very sincere, he was able to bring in the kind of lived experience that he brings to the court that no other nominee has. He focused for a time on her parents who've been married 54 years on her position as a mother, but also an African-American woman.

You know, I just got to think that the lines of the senators were lighting up with support for her. There were some genuine, teary-eyed moments. They really were. These are usually contrived set pieces. And this was fresh, real, genuine, and so, so, so winning. So I thought that combination of really taking cotton to school as a judge, and then the sort of personal experience with Booker was probably the best hour I've ever seen for a nominee. And I'm thinking that it makes it harder for at least those few senators who are on the

cusp to vote against her. So I'm now seeing her to kind of finish up where I started in, but in sheer, oh, you know, handicapping Vegas terms. I now, I think that she is likely to get what counts as bipartisan support in these trouble times, which is at least one or two Republicans. And I actually see a distinct prospect that she gets 53 or 54.

So a really good day for her, the hardest day tomorrow will be the last day of questioning Thursday. They can submit written questions, and then it's time for a vote first in committee, and then on the floor, and the final vote might come as early as next week. So there you have it, Midas Midis. My second day report, a good day for Katanji Brown, Jackson.

Talk to you tomorrow.