I haven’t been paying much attention to the confirmation hearings of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, and I suspect the American public isn’t either. In these kinds of low-salience cases, I’d guess that only one moment is really going to matter in the popular perception, and Republicans have created it. The Democrat-allied media are underplaying or ignoring this exchange, but it was absolutely devastating. In essence, the Republicans were poking around, somewhat ineptly, trying to make the judge say something that would sound extreme, shocking, bizarre, nonsensical, alarming, and ultra-woke to the average American, and Senator Blackburn finally succeeded.
Blackburn: “Can you provide a definition for the word ‘woman’?”
Jackson: “Can I provide a definition? No, I can’t.”
Blackburn: “You can’t?”
Jackson: “Not in this context.” [Starts to chuckle, as though the question is absurd.] “I’m not a biologist.”
“You mean the meaning of the word ‘woman’ is so unclear and controversial that you can’t give me a definition?”
“Senator, in my work as a judge, what I do is I address disputes. If there’s a dispute about a definition, people make arguments and I look at the law and I decide, so I’m not—”
“Well the fact that you can’t give me a straight answer about something as fundamental as what a woman is underscores the kind of progressive education that we are hearing about. Just last week, an entire generation of young girls watched as our taxpayer-funded institutions permitted a biological man to compete, and beat, a biological woman in the NCAA swimming championships. What message do you think this sends to girls who aspire to win in sports at the highest levels?”
“Senator, I’m not sure what message that sends. If you’re asking me about the legal issues related to it, um those are topics that are being hotly discussed, as you say, and could come to the Court, so . . .”
Bad answer. Bad, bad answer. Jackson is essentially saying it’s above her philosophical pay grade to make a distinction that is bound to come up before the Court and has many, many ramifications in law.
Jackson will be confirmed, but Republicans will be able to use this clip against Democrats forever. It also shows how Democratic identity politics works in hilariously self-contradictory ways: Jackson was nominated because she is a black woman in a move that Democrats thought would be a grand slam for identity politics, but meanwhile Democrats can’t define what either of those identities actually means, and women have ample cause to be alarmed rather than cheered by the elevation of Jackson, which was supposed to be a triumph for women. Also, the entire party has allowed its imagination to be captured by the transgender debate to such a degree that it considers it hate speech to face facts and can’t grant that the Right’s view of things is the one the average American holds on the matter. Lastly, the exchange is especially delicious for those of us who argue that elites, particularly Democratic Party elites, have simply lost touch with reality and common sense.