With the impending retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer, President Joe Biden announced U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as his nomination to the Supreme Court.
Breyer won't officially retire until the end of this year's Supreme Court term on October 3rd, but Biden is still urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to begin hearings on Judge Jackson's nomination in a deliberate and timely manner.
This didn't sit well with Senate Judiciary's ranking member, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who said in a statement:
“We should not sacrifice the integrity of our constitutional advice and consent responsibility to meet an arbitrary timeline. The Court’s next term doesn’t begin until October, so there’s absolutely no need to rush."
What Grassley was apparently forgetting is that the most recent Supreme Court nominee to answer questions from the Judiciary Committee operated on an entirely different timeline. Now-Justice Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the Supreme Court in just one month, a far cry from the average time of nine weeks.
Judge Jackson's process is already scheduled to take longer than Barrett's as it is. While Justice Barrett began committee hearings just over two weeks after Trump announced her as his pick, Judge Jackson's first Senate Judiciary hearing won't be until March 21—a full 24 days after Biden's announcement.
Social media users were quick to call Grassley out on what they called a double standard.
Chuck Grassley jammed through Barrett's SCOTUS nomination in the middle of an election. But when a black woman is nominated, Grassley opposes "an arbitrary timeline."
The more important something is, the more Republicans lie. That's why they lie about the court a lot. https://t.co/cQCexkcSbX
— Mark Jacob (@MarkJacob16) March 7, 2022
Honestly wish Democrats in the Senate were this shameless https://t.co/QFT5B5o5ey
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) March 7, 2022
As often as the Senator does a 180, he should wear a cervical collar to guard against whiplash. https://t.co/lUB800epnw
— Randy Evans (@DMRevans) March 8, 2022
Boy, I don't remember @ChuckGrassley caring so much about "integrity of...." during the last couple of SCOTUS confirmations. It's almost like he's a giant hypocrite. https://t.co/qeKyrdtjsO
— Patrick Kearney (@kearneyiowa) March 7, 2022
GOP is at it again, loving when they are in control of “timelines” and calling foul no matter what the timeline is, even if it’s nearly a year #SCOTUS https://t.co/WAgYEQCi8h
— (((lizopp))) (@Two_Cranes) March 8, 2022
Man of party who went scorched earth to get Amy Coney Barrett confirmed in record time, is concerned Democrats are moving too quickly to get Ketanji Brown Jackson confirmed.🙄#DemVoice1 https://t.co/6U4DHQFliJ
— LA Votes Blue in GA! #DemVoice1 🌊🌎💙 (@LALewman) March 7, 2022
Senate Republicans no longer have the majority they enjoyed in recent years, and can't do much to dictate the timeline of Judge Jackson's confirmation. The floor vote on Supreme Court nominations is also exempt from the Senate filibuster, thanks to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
With this context, other social media users didn't care too much about Grassley's reservations.
Who else doesn’t care about Chuck Grassley’s opinion on this at all? https://t.co/OxxNAP3CRV
— Phil Arballo (@PhilArballo) March 7, 2022
Dems have the votes. So, who cares. Get on with the nomination. https://t.co/Z42jleBlhU
— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) March 7, 2022
Who listens to Chuck Grassley anyway? He’s irrelevant.
— Avenger Resister (@AvengerResister) March 7, 2022
Judge Jackson has been confirmed by the Senate to lower courts multiple times, and her Supreme Court nomination is expected to gain bipartisan support.
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AMC