South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham defended his questioning of Ketanji Brown Jackson's faith during the second day of her confirmation hearing, which he admitted made President Joe Biden's pick for Supreme Court nominee "uncomfortable."
Speaking to Fox News' Jeanine Pirro, who is currently hosting Laura Ingraham's show, Graham discussed his grilling of Jackson, noting the Democrats were content with "destroying" Amy Coney Barrett over her Catholic faith.
On Tuesday, Graham opened his questioning by asking Jackson "what faith are you, by the way?"
In response, Jackson said she was "reluctant to talk" about her faith as she is "mindful of the need for the public to have confidence in my ability to separate out my personal views."
Graham then asked Jackson how she would react if a Senator said of her faith "the dogma lives loudly within you and that's of concern" in reference to what California Democrat Dianne Feinstein told Barrett, Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick, during her Court of Appeals confirmation hearing in 2017.
Speaking to Pirro, Graham suggested a double standard if he is being criticized for asking Jackson about her faith, as liberal groups and Democrats used the same tactic against Barrett over fears she would attempt to roll back on abortion rights protected under Roe vs Wade, after filling the seat left vacant by Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death.
"I was asking her questions about her faith, and I don't believe for a minute that her faith will determine how she would rule on a case," Graham said.
"I didn't believe that about Amy Coney Barrett, so she was uncomfortable with me asking about how faithful she was, could she judge somebody of a different faith.
"If she was uncomfortable with that, where was she and others when they were destroying Amy Coney Barrett—who's a faithful woman, who is a traditional Catholic, her faith means a lot to her—they basically said that your faith is too much for us.
"What they did to Judge Barrett was despicable," he added.
During Tuesday's hearing, Graham also discussed Jackson's criticism of the George W Bush administration over the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
Graham asked whether it was appropriate for a lawyer to accuse the government of "acting as war criminals" in relation to the U.S. detention center in Cuba. Jackson said she didn't not recall making such remarks, but at the time was making "allegations to preserve issues on behalf of my clients."
As noted by The New York Times, Jackson did not openly call former President George W. Bush and former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld "war criminals," but did sign a 2005 petition along with several other lawyers which alleged that the torture of men at Guantanamo amounted to war crimes.
Graham suggested to Fox News that Jackson's work with Guantanamo detainees shows she is an "activist" and not a neutral observer of the law.
"It's not passing the smell test course," Graham said. "When she was a lawyer, not only did she represent four Gitmo defendants, which I'm fine with, she actually participated in three briefs by liberal organisations—amicus briefs—that accused the Bush administration of being war criminals.
"How could a lawyer accuse the President of the United States of being a war criminal or not remember it?"
At the end of the interview, Pirro asked Graham whether he will be voting for Jackson for the Supreme Court nomination.
"Stay tuned," he replied.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
