{"id":1397245,"date":"2022-03-23T21:00:13","date_gmt":"2022-03-24T01:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1397245"},"modified":"2022-03-23T21:00:19","modified_gmt":"2022-03-24T01:00:19","slug":"democrat-sen-dick-durbin-tries-to-run-cover-for-ketanji-brown-jacksons-war-crimes-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrat-sen-dick-durbin-tries-to-run-cover-for-ketanji-brown-jacksons-war-crimes-claim\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrat Sen. Dick Durbin Tries to Run Cover for Ketanji Brown Jackson&#039;s &#039;War Crimes&#039; Claim"},"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\">30<\/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%2Fdemocrat-sen-dick-durbin-tries-to-run-cover-for-ketanji-brown-jacksons-war-crimes-claim%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=1397245&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><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">Democrat Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) on Wednesday delivered a lengthy defense of Ketanji Brown Jackson in reference to Republican senators\u2019 questions about Jackson\u2019s work representing a member of the Taliban as a public defender in 2005.<\/p>\n<p>Durbin\u2019s monologue on day three of Jackson\u2019s Supreme Court confirmation hearing was specifically referring to accusations from Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and John Cornyn (R-TX) that Jackson called then-President George W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfield \u201cwar criminals\u201d in a habeas corpus petition for a Guant\u00e1namo Bay detainee, Khi Ali Gul.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cLet just ask \u2014 I don\u2019t know you well, but I have been impressed by our interaction. You\u2019ve been gracious and charming. Why in the world would you call Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and George W. Bush \u2018war criminals\u2019 in a legal filing? It seems so out of character for you,\u201d Cornyn asked Jackson on day two of the hearing.<\/p>\n<p>At the time, Jackson said she did not \u201cremember that particular reference\u201d and said she was \u201crepresenting [her] clients and making arguments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did not intend to disparage the president or the secretary of defense,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>Durbin on Wednesday orated for several minutes, citing multiple corporate media fact checks on Cornyn and Graham\u2019s accusation before giving Jackson the chance to address the question once more. Durbin said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Yesterday, Sen. Graham said you had gone too far in calling the government quote: \u201ca war criminal\u201d in pursing charges against a terrorist.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>Later Sen. Cornyn asked Judge Jackson, I quote: \u201cYou referred to the Secretary of Defense and the president of the United States as war criminals. Why would you do something like that?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">Durbin then quoted a CNN fact check, which does not deny that Jackson accused Bush and Rumsfeld of \u201cwar crimes,\u201d but says the GOP Senators \u201cleft out important context.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs I noted yesterday and repeat this morning, these charges don\u2019t hold up. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/03\/23\/politics\/ketanji-brown-jackson-hearings-fact-check\/index.html\">CNN fact check<\/a> said: both Graham and Cornyn left out important context. Specifically, neither mentioned that Jackson\u2019s allegation of war crimes was about torture. Also, Jackson didn\u2019t explicitly use the phrase \u2018war criminal.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Durbin then read from a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/22\/us\/politics\/ketanji-brown-jackson-war-crimes.html\"><em> New York Times<\/em> fact check<\/a>, which said the allegation \u201cis a distortion and lacks context.\u201d He continued:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The<em> New York Times<\/em> went on to say: \u201cJudge Jackson did not specifically call the former president and defense secretary \u2018war criminals.\u2019 She was one of several lawyers in 2005 signing four essentially boiler plate habeas corpus petitions on the behalf of detainees at Guant\u00e1namo Bay that claimed the United States government had tortured the men and that such acts \u2018constitute war crime.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Democrat senator then retrieved a third fact check from the Jeff Bezos-owned <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2022\/03\/22\/what-kentanji-brown-jackson-war-criminal-thing-is-really-about\/\"><em>Washington Post<\/em><\/a>, which noted that Bush and Rumsfeld were named in the petitions \u201cbecause they have to be to clear procedural hurdles,\u201d and that Barack Obama was later named in the petitions when the administration changed.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cBut the larger point is that Jackson was acting as the detainees\u2019 lawyer \u2014 and in her role as a public defender,\u201d Durbin said, still quoting the <em>Post<\/em>. \u201cAnd one of the underpinnings of the American justice system is that even the most reviled alleged criminals have the right to a vigorous defense.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After seemingly giving Jackson the ammunition she needed to defend herself, Durbin asked the judge if she would like to comment on his \u201cstatement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell senator, I would just say that public defenders don\u2019t choose their clients, and yet they have to provide vigorous advocacy. That\u2019s the duty of a lawyer. And as a judge now, I see the importance of having lawyers who make arguments, who make allegations,\u201d she said in reply.<\/p>\n<p>She continued:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>In the context of a habeas petition, especially early in the process of the response to the horrible attacks of 9\/11, lawyers were helping the courts to assess the permissible extent of executive authority by making arguments, and we were assigned as public defenders. We had very little information because of the confidentiality or classified nature of a lot of the record, and as an appellate lawyer, it was obligation to file habeas petitions on behalf of my clients.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Earlier in the hearing, Cornyn had criticized Durbin for choosing to \u201ceditorialize and contradict the point being made by this side of the aisle [Republicans]\u2026\u201dafter every series of questioning.\u201d Cornyn said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>My language was, I asked whether she had called them \u2018war criminals,\u2019 and she said under oath to you, \u2018no I did not\u2019 \u2014 although the record is plain as it can be that she accused them of \u2018war crimes.\u2019 Now, I don\u2019t understand the difference between calling somebody a \u2018war criminal\u2019 and accusing them of \u2018war crimes.\u2019 Maybe in some other foreign language that I don\u2019t frankly understand \u2014 maybe that would make sense, but not in accordance with the common understanding of the English language.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Cornyn then told Durbin he did not think it was \u201cappropriate\u201d for the chairman to try to defend Jackson against every line of questioning from the GOP when she is \u201cdoing a pretty good job of defending her own position and answering questions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on\u00a0<a class=\"x5l\" title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/katherineeeeee2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Twitter<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democrat Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) on Wednesday delivered a lengthy defense of Ketanji Brown Jackson in reference to Republican senators\u2019 questions about Jackson\u2019s work representing a member of the Taliban<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"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-1397245","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\/1397245","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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1397245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1397245\/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=1397245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1397245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1397245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}