Marshall Vows To Vote Against Jackson For Seat On Supreme Court

By Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector

March 25, 2022

TOPEKA — U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, a Kansas Republican, said he would vote against confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Marshall said he was troubled by Jackson’s work on criminal cases during her career as a defense attorney and federal judge. He also asserted in a statement Jackson had a “tendency for legislating from behind the bench and an affinity to growing government.”

Jackson, who would be the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court, is a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. From 2013 to 2021, she served as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She was vice chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission from 2010 to 2014.

Jackson, 51, began her legal career with three clerkships, including one with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. She also worked in private practice and as a federal public defender.

Marshall said Jackson lacked “serious experience” needed to serve on the nation’s highest court.

“After sitting in on some of Judge Jackson’s hearing and conducting a thorough and thoughtful review of her qualifications and judicial record, I cannot support her confirmation,” the senator said.

He pointed to questioning by Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee who challenged severity of Jackson’s sentencing of people convicted of possessing child pornography.

In addition, Marshall said the judge opposed President Donald Trump’s expedited removal of undocumented immigrants and would be a “rubberstamp” for President Joe Biden’s agenda.

The Senate is expected to vote on the nomination early April. The Senate is divided 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats. A simple majority would be needed for confirmation, given that the vice president could break a tie in Jackson’s favor.

Her confirmation as a replacement for Breyer wouldn’t alter the Supreme Court’s ideological balance.

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