There has properly been a lot of attention paid to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s avowal of her inability to state what a woman is. But equally remarkable is the immediately preceding colloquy that Senator Marsha Blackburn had with Jackson:
Blackburn: Let me — let me ask you this then. United States versus Virginia, the Supreme Court struck down VMI’s male-only admission policy. Writing for the majority, Justice Ginsburg stated: “Supposed inherent differences are no longer accepted as a ground for race or national origin classifications. Physical differences between men and women, however, are enduring. The two sexes are not fungible. A community made up exclusively of one sex is different from a community composed of both.” Do you agree with Justice Ginsburg that there are physical differences between men and women that are enduring?
Jackson: Senator, respectfully, I — I’m not familiar with that particular quote or case, so it’s hard for me to comment as to whether —
Blackburn: All right, I’d love to get your — your opinion on — on that. And you can submit that. Do you interpret Justice Ginsburg’s meaning of men and women as male and female?
Jackson: Again, because I don’t know the case, I don’t know how I interpret it. I need to read the whole thing.
If Jackson really was “not familiar” with the VMI case, that would be astonishing and deeply discrediting. Whatever one thinks of the merits of the VMI ruling, it was perhaps Justice Ginsburg’s most celebrated opinion and a landmark Equal Protection ruling on sex discrimination. What’s more, the VMI case was especially prominent when Jackson was in her third year of law school: It was argued on January 17, 1996, and decided on June 26, 1996.
Given that Blackburn spelled out the holding of the case (“the Supreme Court struck down VMI’s male-only admission policy”), it’s implausible to contend that the case’s generic caption (United States v. Virginia) might have confused her.