Former Alabama Sen. Doug Jones, the Biden administration’s sherpa for Jackson as she undergoes the Senate confirmation process, followed Monday’s opening statements by previewing what to expect from Jackson on Tuesday.
“What I think you’re gonna hear from Judge Jackson tomorrow is the way she goes about judging and a process and a methodology that some will call a philosophy, others will just call it a process, but it’s going to be very, very consistent with what you heard today from almost everybody on that dias of what they want in a Supreme Court justice,” he said. “Fairness, impartiality, judicial restraint, not staying in a judicial lane, not being a policymaker — that’s what you’re going to hear the next two days from this judge.”
Asked how he expects Jackson to respond to accusations that she’s “soft on crime,” Jones said it will be “very simple for her to make the argument because she’s going to point to her record.”
“If she was truly a judge with a demonstrated history — a judge — with a demonstrated history of being ‘soft on crime,’ she would not have been endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, the International Association of Police Chiefs, attorney generals from across the country from both sides of the aisle, former DOJ officials, former national security officials, former George W. Bush officials — that wouldn’t happen,” Jones said.
He said attacks from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., were “not surprising” and that Jackson will be able to talk about each of the seven cases he’s taken issue with over the next two days.