Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, questioned Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as the Senate Judiciary Committee continued its Supreme Court confirmation hearings March 23.
Lee asked her about her decisions in a 2015 case involving a mining issue and also questions about presidential authority to name parcels of federal land as national monuments.
Lee also asked Jackson about Stenberg v. Carhart, a 2000 landmark Supreme Court decision that found a Nebraska ban on partial-birth abortion unconstitutional because it failed to include exceptions in cases where women’s’ health was threatened and also because it eliminated the most common second trimester method of abortion, which the court ruled placed an undue burden on women seeking abortion in that period of pregnancy.
Lee echoed questions from his Republican colleagues about his fear of “court packing,” referring to the idea of expanding the number of Supreme Court justices for partisan gain. He said he was concerned it could “turn the court into a political football of sorts.”
Jackson said it was not appropriate for her to comment on the issue (“that is a political question”) because of her “fidelity to the judicial role.”
It was senators’ final day to question Jackson, who was nominated by President Joe Biden in February to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. If confirmed, she will be the first Black woman on the high court. On the final day of the hearings March 24, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hear from friends and colleagues of Jackson about her temperament and approach to the law.
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