{"id":1387705,"date":"2022-03-18T05:35:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-18T09:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1387705"},"modified":"2022-03-18T08:15:39","modified_gmt":"2022-03-18T12:15:39","slug":"marsha-blackburn-previews-gop-strategy-to-vet-kentanji-jackson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/marsha-blackburn-previews-gop-strategy-to-vet-kentanji-jackson\/","title":{"rendered":"Marsha Blackburn Previews GOP Strategy To Vet Kentanji Jackson"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmarsha-blackburn-previews-gop-strategy-to-vet-kentanji-jackson%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1387705&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/EADBEBDF-9ADC-4226-AA4E-CEAB59EC000F.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>All the way back in 2008, Marsha Blackburn recalled an anecdote from her first congressional campaign. A man in a coffee shop asked, \u201cLittle lady, what qualifies you to run for the United States House of Representatives?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Blackburn, so the story <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2008\/04\/the-lady-prefers-congressman-009622\">goes<\/a>, \u201cquickly ticked off her time as a choir director and Girl Scouts cookie mom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After a brief exchange, the man asked another question. \u201cLittle lady, if you win this thing, what we gonna call you \u2014 congresslady? Congressgirl?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSir, congressman will be just fine,\u201d Blackburn replied.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And it was. In the House, Blackburn famously went by \u201ccongressman\u201d instead of \u201ccongresswoman,\u201d although she never made a big deal of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When I asked the senator on Tuesday why it matters that she\u2019ll be the only Republican woman on the Judiciary Committee during Ketanji Brown Jackson\u2019s Supreme Court confirmation hearing, Blackburn\u2019s answer was that she plans to \u201cgive voice to the questions and concerns that conservative women have as they look at the federal bench and the individual that is going to take the seat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Those concerns, according to Blackburn, involve Jackson\u2019s \u201crespect\u201d for the Constitution and rule of law. She\u2019s convinced Democrats\u2019 reprehensible conduct during the Kavanaugh confirmation is \u201cwhy now people want it to be focused on the issues. They want it to be very thorough, they want to go into someone\u2019s record.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Blackburn, a mother of two who\u2019s been married to her husband since the 1970s, worked her way from a career in sales and marketing up to Tennessee\u2019s state senate and then to the House of Representatives, where she served from 2003 until voters sent her to the upper chamber in 2019. (Against the <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/pZCmVIi7hsM\">wishes<\/a> of Taylor Swift.) In the Senate, Blackburn has become a reliable voice for the new GOP, zeroing in on big technology companies and America\u2019s enemies in the Chinese government.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Kavanaugh confirmation undoubtedly marked a turning point for many Republicans, not just in Washington.\u00a0Blackburn joined the judiciary committee in time to question Amy Coney Barrett and, ultimately, vote in favor of her advancement to the court. In an empty meeting room at the Capitol Hill Club, spring sunshine pouring through the windows, Blackburn and I briefly revisited those ugly confirmations during an interview less than a week before the start of Jackson\u2019s time in the hot seat.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTennesseans,\u201d Blackburn told me, \u201cwere just shocked at the conduct of some of the Democrats\u201d during Justice Kavanaugh\u2019s confirmation. They watched Barrett\u2019s confirmation \u201cintently.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rightfully so, given how Democrats and their allies in media accused Kavanaugh of gang rape with no credible evidence. Justice Barrett faced heinous attacks on her faith and family from the press. One best-selling author <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/why-ibram-kendi-facing-backlash-over-tweet-about-amy-coney-barretts-adopted-haitian-children-1534507\">implied<\/a> she was akin to a \u201cwhite colonizer\u201d for adopting black children.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With that in mind, I asked for Blackburn\u2019s response to an increasingly popular sentiment on the right. \u201cIf Democrats are going to break all of these norms, why should we not fight their norm-breaking with our own norm-breaking? If they\u2019re fundamentally transforming the country with activist judges\u2014and I think it Judge Jackson\u2019s record suggests that\u2019s the kind of jurist that she is\u2014if they\u2019re doing that, is the only way to stop it not breaking norms on our own?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe way to stop it is to show the record,\u201d said the senator, \u201cof the individuals, whether it is Judge Jackson, whether it is nominees for any of the other federal courts. Sunlight is the best on this. And to bring attention to the records, to the writings, the rulings, the opinions, the number of times that have been overturned, respect for the Constitution, respect for the rule of law. That is the best way to bring attention to an issue and preserve this nation\u2019s founding and the fundamentals of the Constitution which have kept us as a democratic republic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I then asked Blackburn about the particular norm I had in mind as a potential sticking point for Jackson\u2019s confirmation. Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee killed Sarah Bloom Raskin\u2019s nomination to the Federal Reserve this week by boycotting a committee vote, denying Democrats the quorum needed to advance her nomination. Raskin pulled out of the running.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Months ago, Rachel Bovard <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/01\/28\/how-this-senate-rule-could-stop-democrats-from-confirming-bidens-scotus-nominee\/\">explained<\/a> in The Federalist how Senate Republicans could use the same rule to leave Biden\u2019s Supreme Court nominee in procedural limbo.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy failing to show up to vote on the nomination in committee, Republicans could prevent the nomination from reaching the Senate floor by appealing to the Senate\u2019s Rule 26, which requires that a majority of members, physically present, report the bill out of committee,\u201d Bovard wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Referencing the Raskin case, I asked Blackburn, \u201cAre there any circumstances in which you could envision Republicans denying Judge Jackson a quorum depending on how the hearing goes?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe best thing for us to do right now is to prepare for opening statements, prepare for our questions, and approach next week in a thorough vetting mindset process,\u201d she told me.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I started to push one more time on the question of norms, noting how Senate Republicans haven\u2019t forced Vice President Harris to break many ties and even voted to confirm some of President Biden\u2019s nominees. Blackburn politely interrupted me. (It was fair, I was rambling.)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRepublicans,\u201d she said pointedly, \u201cshould lead the way in saying, \u2018This is the Constitution. This is what we\u2019re required to do by the Constitution. This is where the Constitution places responsibility. And this is what is required of us.\u2019 And I think that it is a very good thing for Republicans to show that we believe in the Constitution and the rule of law and have respect for the Constitution and the rule of law.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Somewhere in the middle of our conversation, I asked Blackburn about another norm, one she\u2019s challenged very effectively. When Justice Breyer announced his retirement, I noted, some voices on the left were lamenting the corporate bias in Breyer\u2019s record on antitrust, an issue on which Blackburn has become a major leader in challenging GOP orthodoxy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are looking very closely at her record with companies and anything that she has written or said about antitrust,\u201d the senator replied.<\/p>\n<p>The effort to vet Jackson is an \u201call-hands-on-deck operation for us,\u201d Blackburn explained.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats are scrambling to confirm the judge before Easter. \u201cDemocrats really want to push this forward,\u201d said Blackburn. \u201cThey are afraid. We\u2019re at a 50-50 Senate. And they may not have the votes at some point. So they\u2019re wanting to get the hearing out of the way and get her ready to go to the floor while they still have the votes.\u201d <\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Emily Jashinsky is culture editor at The Federalist. She previously covered politics as a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner. Prior to joining the Examiner, Emily was the spokeswoman for Young America\u2019s Foundation. She\u2019s interviewed leading politicians and entertainers and appeared regularly as a guest on major television news programs, including \u201cFox News Sunday,\u201d \u201cMedia Buzz,\u201d and \u201cThe McLaughlin Group.\u201d Her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, Real Clear Politics, and more. Emily also serves as director of the National Journalism Center and a visiting fellow at Independent Women&#8217;s Forum. Originally from Wisconsin, she is a graduate of George Washington University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All the way back in 2008, Marsha Blackburn recalled an anecdote from her first congressional campaign. A man in a coffee shop asked, \u201cLittle lady, what qualifies you to run<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1387705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1387705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1387705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1387705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1387705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1387705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1387705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}