Demand Justice Statement on Graham Admission That Senate GOP Would Have Blocked Judge Jackson from Even Having a Hearing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 4, 2022

CONTACT: [email protected]

DEMAND JUSTICE STATEMENT ON GRAHAM ADMISSION THAT SENATE GOP WOULD HAVE BLOCKED JUDGE JACKSON FROM EVEN HAVING A HEARING

WASHINGTON, DC— In response to Sen. Lindsey Graham admitting that Judge Jackson would not have received a hearing if Republicans controlled the Senate, Demand Justice Executive Director Brian Fallon issued the following statement:

“Since Ketanji Brown Jackson was nominated, Republicans have careened from one lame excuse to another to explain why they couldn’t support her, but Lindsey Graham just let the cat out of the bag. The Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee aren’t unanimously opposing Jackson because she is backed by progressive groups, or because she declined to answer a question about Court expansion that Amy Coney Barrett also did not answer, and or because of false attacks on her sentencing record that have been fact-checked into oblivion. They are opposing her because she was picked by a Democratic president. 

“In Judge Jackson, these Republicans are opposing one of the most qualified nominees of all time, and also one of the most popular. If Republicans would have denied her so much as a hearing, as Graham says, it means future Democratic presidents have no hope of ever confirming a Supreme Court justice under a Republican Senate.

“Graham has made plain that the Garland rule is the new normal for how Republicans will approach all Democratic nominations to the Court, election year or not. This should be clarifying in many ways. It spotlights the need for Democrats to retain the Senate this year. It affirms the wisdom of Justice Breyer not waiting a single day longer to announce his retirement. And most of all, it shows the need for Democrats to get serious about reforming the Court to prevent Republicans from maintaining a permanent grip on it by simply playing dirty.”

# # #