President Biden’s nomination is a move to push the Supreme Court in the direction of the left
According to her record as both an attorney and a judge, Jackson lacks the dispassionate and unbiased disposition that Americans expect of Supreme Court Justices. Instead, her career is marked by far-left political activism.
In 2008, Judge Jackson was an election poll monitor for the Obama for America Presidential Campaign. Since 2007, she has been a frequent speaker at events hosted by the liberal and progressive lawyer’s association, the American Constitution Society.
Her commitment to progressive causes is so well-known (and appreciated) that she has earned the endorsement of just about every far-left association there is, including Demand Justice, People for the American Way, Human Rights Campaign, the Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood, and anti-religious liberty groups like American Atheists, American Humanist Association, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Jackson’s record shows hostility toward constitutional values like free speech, religious liberty, and the sanctity of life. In 2001, she co-authored a friend-of-the-court brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on behalf of a litany of pro-abortion organizations, including the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL). Her brief in the McGuire v. Reilly case repeatedly disparaged pro-life sidewalk counselors—most often comprised of moms, grandmothers, nuns, and women who regret their own abortions. She unjustly attacked these loving ministers as a “hostile” and “in-your-face” “gauntlet,” all while ignoring the very real hostility—whether from abusive partners, parents, or peers—that can coerce reluctant women into the abortion decision.
Pro-life advocates often engage in silent prayers outside abortion clinics. Jackson labeled these activities as “chaotic scenes” that should be stripped of First Amendment protections because they “are not pure speech, but rather are a form of expression analogous to labor picketing.”
Americans can disagree on the issue of abortion and even dispute the efficacy of peaceful protests, but Jackson’s brief lacks the even-handedness one would expect of a future Supreme Court Justice tasked with protecting the First Amendment freedoms of all Americans. Reading Jackson’s brief, one quickly concludes that she has quite firmly chosen sides. Litigants in cases pitting abortion against core First Amendment rights would likely face a “home team” umpire in Justice Jackson, as she roots for abortion activities and jeers the free speech of pro-life advocates. In short, Jackson is not the neutral arbiter of the law one should expect to see on the Supreme Court.
Such judicial activism squares with some comments Judge Jackson made at her confirmation hearings. During her confirmation to the D.C. Circuit, she refused to say whether a president may refuse to enforce a duly enacted, constitutional law, and she suggested that public schools that receive federal funding may discriminate against students on the basis of speech.
Judge Jackson’s record speaks for itself. President Biden’s nomination is not merely substituting one liberal jurist for another. It is an aggressive move to push the Supreme Court hard in the direction of the political left.
If confirmed, Americans can expect a Justice Kentanji Brown Jackson to bring a lifetime of political activism to the court of last resort for so many of our freedoms, including free speech and religious liberty.