The bizarre spectacle of the confirmation hearings

 

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March 26, 2022

The confirmation hearings this week for Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson exemplified just how broken the judicial selection process has become. Rather than focusing on relevant lines of inquiry, some Republican Senators asked Jackson about children’s books and critical race theory and bizarrely pushed Jackson to define the term “woman.” It was clear that many senators were using the hearings to make political points, rather than discern whether she had the right experience as a jurist to serve on the nation’s highest court. And in sharing their extreme political views, some senators’ lines of questioning quickly became condescending and downright racist. The spectacle was yet another reminder that we desperately need to reform the Supreme Court and the process for selecting justices to serve on the bench. In our current political moment, the stakes are too high when there’s an opening on the Supreme Court, and it creates incentives for lawmakers to engage in a seemingly endless race to the bottom. We cannot continue like this. Late last year, our task force on judicial selection recommended some steps that would lower the pressure on the nomination and confirmation process. Term limits, judicial selection screening committees, an official code of conduct, and changes to the structure of the court, taken together, could make the nomination process less political and restore faith in the Supreme Court. WANT MORE FROM POGO? The latest from us, straight to your inbox For updates on POGO’s investigations, upcoming events, and more ways you can get involved, subscribe to our emails. ANALYSIS Executive Order 12333: The Spy Power Too Big for Any Legal Limits Revelation of a new CIA program conducting bulk collection of private financial records has reignited debate over Executive Order 12333, a spy power that monitors billions of private communications, including Americans’, but is totally devoid of congressional or court oversight. Read More ANALYSIS An Inside Look Into the 14th Oversight Boot Camp At the 14th Oversight Boot Camp, 25 congressional staffers from 14 different congressional committees learned how to successfully conduct a congressional oversight investigation. Read More LETTER POGO Urges Congress to Stop Contract Pricing “Whack-a-Mole” For years, federal contractor TransDigm Group has been in the headlines for excessive spare parts profits. It isn’t alone in profiting at taxpayer expense, and Congress is working on solutions to ensure fair and reasonable prices. Read More RESOURCE Identifying Beneficial Owners is a Win-Win and a National Security Priority For too long, loopholes in the U.S. financial and regulatory systems have benefited bad actors and facilitated illicit financial activities. It’s time to fix that. Read More WATCHLIST Watch our town hall for a breakdown of what you need to know about warrantless government surveillance and how you can protect your civil liberties. QUOTE OF THE WEEK “By not fully complying, they are breaking the law. And this is, to put it mildly, not a good look.” Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, Government Affairs Manager, in Insider OVERHEARD Read the thread on Twitter. ONE LINERS “There’s numerous conflict of interest laws that should be investigated here to ensure that Carroll didn’t violate the laws on the books.” Scott Amey, Executive Editorial Director and General Counsel, in US Right to Know   “The exemption is just too broad, and it allows people who should be registered under FARA ... to avoid and circumvent the kind of thing we’re trying to do with FARA.” Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, Government Affairs Manager, in Politico   “Until they deal with the OLC opinion and how the OLC reads that provision, I don’t think this language is as strong as it could be when it comes to protecting these whistleblowers.” Melissa Wasser, Policy Counsel, in Roll Call   “It appears the Biden White House has a policy that goes above and beyond the Hatch Act. ... That’s not unheard of or necessarily inappropriate.” Nick Schwellenbach, Senior Investigator, in Government Executive   “The Senate, particularly, views those inspectors general as a little bit more independent, a little bit more accountable to Congress, a little bit more of a partner.” Liz Hempowicz, Director of Public Policy, in Politico

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