Manchin: Way GOP Handled Jackson Was 'Disgraceful'

'I think she’s extremely well qualified and I think she’ll be an exemplary judge'
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 29, 2022 2:56 PM CDT
Manchin Slams GOP's 'Disgraceful' Treatment of Jackson
Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson listens as Sen. Ted Cruz speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, Wednesday, March 23, 2022.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Sen. Joe Manchin doesn't always agree with his Democratic colleagues, but they're on the same page when it comes to Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson—and the way she was treated by several Republican senators during confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. Manchin on Tuesday termed that treatment "disgraceful," the Hill reports. "I met with her and I read all the transcripts. I listened to basically the hearings and it just was embarrassing,” he said.

During the hearings, Democrats on the judiciary committee slammed Republicans including Sens. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley for "badgering" Jackson with repeated questions about her sentencing in child pornography cases, and for interrupting her as she tried to answer. "It’s not what we were sent here to do, to attack other people and just try to tear them down," Manchin said Tuesday. "I won’t be part of that. I think she’s extremely well qualified and I think she’ll be an exemplary judge."

Manchin confirmed Friday that he will support Jackson when the full Senate votes on her nomination. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin has set the committee vote for April 4, the AP reports. Durbin said Monday that he hopes Jackson will get bipartisan support, but he criticized the behavior of "four or five" Republican senators. Durbin said "the notion of asking the toughest and meanest questions and then race to Twitter to see if somebody is tweeting it" is "as bad as playing to the cameras on the worst day." (Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says he "cannot and will not" support Jackson's nomination.)

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