Dick Durbin Admits Some GOP SCOTUS Nominees “Should Have Been Handled Better”

Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said Wednesday on the Senate floor that he will be the “first to admit” that past Republican-appointed Supreme Court nominees “should have been handled better” during prior confirmation hearings.

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has been an ardent defender against GOP scrutiny of current Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson‘s record as she heads toward a likely confirmation later this week. In regards to Republican criticism, he said, “We’ve done it too on the Democratic side.”

“And I’m going to be the first to admit, as I look back in history, there are things that should have been handled better when Republican nominees were before us,” Durbin said.

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Republicans have utilized Jackson’s hearings to air grievances over the treatment of nominees such as Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who faced an onslaught of Democratic attacks when he was accused of sexual assault in 2018 about an alleged incident from his teenage years, which the justice denied.

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham invoked Kavanaugh in his comments on March 23 during Jackson’s committee hearings, asking Jackson how she would have responded to similar allegations.

“How would you feel if I’d had a letter from somebody accusing you of something, a crime or misconduct, for weeks, and I give it to Sen. Durbin just before this hearing is over and not allow you to comment on the accusation? How would you feel about that?” Graham asked.

Durbin signed a letter with numerous Democratic senators in 2018 that accused Kavanaugh of running a “gang rape” operation as a teenager.

The committee chairman made a point to commend Republicans on Wednesday who questioned Jackson in a “fair manner.” But he rebuked “three or four” senators whom he said faltered in that respect.

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Durbin and Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, sparred several times over the course of Jackson’s hearings. The chairman sought to disarm the senator’s allegations that Jackson was light in her sentencing of child pornography offenders, among other grievances levied by some GOP members.

“The majority of Republican senators in the Senate Judiciary Committee, led by the ranking member Chuck Grassley, I believe, were respectful and dealt with the judge in a fair manner, asked tough questions as they were expected to, but did not cross the line into personal attack,” Durbin said.