Cory Booker: Republicans ‘Triggered a Hurt in So Many People’ by Questioning Ketanji Brown Jackson

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) charged that Republicans “triggered a hurt in so many people” with how they questioned Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson during her confirmation hearings.

Prior to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s deadlocked vote to send Jackson’s nomination to the Senate, Booker — who publicly skewered Brett Kavanaugh as a rumored sexual predator during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings — said KBJ’s treatment made American women question the “absurdities of disrespect” they experience in their lives.

“I am hearing from people, not just Black women, who are relating to me their stories about having to come into a room where you’re more qualified than the people who are sitting in judgement of you and having to endure the absurdities of disrespect that we saw Judge Jackson endure,” he said.

Booker said KBJ’s experience reflected the poor treatment that people “who are so qualified, so worthy” have had to endure.

“How could they disrespect a person like [Jackson] who’s done everything right in her life and in her journey?” Booker questioned.

Quoting Maya Angelou’s famous poem And Still I Rise, Booker said, “You may write me down in history. With your bitter, twisted lies, you may trod me in the very dirt. But still, like dust, I’ll rise.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-11 on sending KBJ’s nomination to the Senate for a full vote where she is expected to be confirmed.

During the confirmation hearings, Booker famously cried in response to Republicans questioning Jackson about her record of soft-sentencing for people in possession of child pornography.

“You’re a person who is so much more than your race and gender,” the tearful Booker said, adding:

You’re a Christian. You’re a mom. You’re an intellect. You love books. But for me, I’m sorry, it’s hard for me not to look at you and see my mom, not to see my cousins, one of them, who had to come here and sit behind you. She had to have your back. I see my ancestors and yours.

“Nobody is gonna steal that joy,” he said. “You have earned this spot. You are worthy. You are a great American. You’re here. And I know what it’s taken for you to sit in that seat.”