Ketanji Brown Jackson hearing decorum far cry from explosive Kavanaugh confirmation: ‘Behaving themselves’

It’s not a cakewalk, but Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings are a far cry from the Kavanaugh treatment. 

Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans – still seething over how Democrats treated Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his 2018 hearings – kicked off Jackson’s confirmation assuring her that she wouldn’t be subject to “that disgraceful behavior,” as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said. 

Since then, Jackson has faced tough and substantive questions on the law and judicial philosophy. But there have been no outbursts, interruptions or character attacks. 

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“I think everybody’s pretty much behaving themselves.” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said of the decorum at the high stakes Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for President Biden’s nominee.

The first two days of Jackson’s hearings featured tough questions from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., on whether she was too lenient on sex offenders – which Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., dismissed an “attack.” Cruz pressed her on whether she backs critical race theory – Jackson said she has “never used it” and it’s not part of her work as a judge. And Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., accused Jackson of twisting the law and cutting a criminal sentence “because you were sympathetic to a fentanyl drug kingpin.” Jackson said she “respectfully” disagrees. 

But amid ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, there were no protests inside the hearing room, repeated disruptions, celebrity guests or mass arrests by Capitol Police that marked the hearings for Kavanaugh. 

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“Isn’t…