Southern Law students head to Supreme Court confirmation hearings - The Advocate
A group of Southern University Law Center students are traveling Sunday to Washington, D.C. to witness the first day of U.S. Senate confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
“It’s the equivalent of Thurgood Marshall,” said Joseph Coleman, of Alexandria, a second-year student headed to Washington. “I want to be able to say I witnessed history.”
Jackson, who would replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer if confirmed by the Senate, is the first African American woman nominated to the high court. U.S. Sen. John N. Kennedy, R-Madisonville, is a member of the Senate Judiciary committee and will participate in the initial questioning of Jackson, which begins Monday. If approved by the committee, her nomination will proceed to a vote by the full Senate.
Ebony Cormier, of Baton Rouge, is the mother of four and attends Southern law school at night.
Like Jackson, Cormier grew up in a family of educators who set no limits on her future even as school counselors told her not to set her sights too high.
“it gives hope to me and all Black women,” Cormier said. “It shows that we are qualified for jobs that we weren’t normally considered for.”
The trip is being paid for by a collaboration among Demand Justice, a left of center advocacy group, the National Black Law Student Association, and the Black Public Defender Association. About 100 law students enrolled at 17 law schools and dozens of public defenders from 11 states have been invited.
In addition to watch parties for the hearings, the students will participate in information sessions about applying for judgeships and jobs as public defenders. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Boulware, of Nevada, who was a federal public defender for 11 years before becoming a judge, is keynote speaker at a dinner Sunday night.
Jackson is currently a justice on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. If confirmed, Jackson would be the second sitting justice with experience at all levels of the federal court system. She would be the first former public defender to serve on the high court. Jackson also was vice chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission from 2010-2014.
It’s her term on the Sentencing Commission that is raising issues for some Republicans on the committee.
U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has questions about seven cases in which he said Jackson sentenced child pornography offenders to sentences more lenient than federal guidelines.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki responded: “After weeks of trying hard to find some way to attack Judge Jackson — first saying she was an affirmative action pick, then saying she was the product of dark money, then saying she would be suspect because she was a public defender — a group of far-right Republican senators ... have launched a last-ditch, eve-of-hearing desperation attack on her record on sentencing in sexual offense cases.”
Jackson’s sentences in all seven of the cases were the same or greater than what the U.S, probation office recommended, according to the White House.
source: https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/education/article_fb27e26a-a722-11ec-963f-975120e01ffd.html
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