This week, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson discussed with Michelle Obama, of all people, the importance of justices appearing impartial — and so far, the reactions to their conversation have been just about what you'd expect. She told the hosts on the Wednesday episode of "IMO with Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson" that "we all have to believe that there is a judicial system that is going to be fair, that is going to be neutral, that when you bring your dispute to the court, that judge doesn't have any pre-existing stake in the particular issue."'Can't make this up.'It's a surprising take, considering Jackson's background.For one thing, former President Joe Biden explicitly chose Jackson for the Supreme Court on the basis of her race and sex, though she said during her confirmation hearing that she could not define "woman" because she's "not a biologist." Jackson has also made a habit of penning bias-saturated jeremiads that have in some cases been extreme enough to raise the eyebrows of even other liberals on the bench. For instance, she:insinuated in her lone dissenting opinion in Trump v. American Federation of Government Employees that President Donald Trump was some sort of power-hungry menace and that those on the bench who failed to stop his "wrecking ball" were sycophantic enablers whose decision was both "hubristic and senseless";claimed in her dissenting opinion for Trump v. CASA Inc. that the Trump administration's request to address universal injunctions — which the high court found "likely exceed the equitable authority that Congress has given to federal courts" — amounted to a request "to engage in unlawful behavior";accused her colleagues in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard of "let-them-eat-cake obliviousness" for their colorblind approach and claimed that race-based college admissions address "the well-documented 'intergenerational transmission of inequality' that still plagues our citizenry" to the "benefit of us all"; andechoed LGBT ideologues in her lone dissenting opinion in Chiles v. Salazar, claiming that "a robust professional consensus now acknowledges that sexual orientations and gender identities range widely" and that reality-affirming therapy for trans-identifying kids was ineffective and harmful.Despite these opinions, Jackson and Obama seem to believe that Jackson has been a relatively neutral jurist. RELATED: Platner's replacement in Maine is a family man — just not in the way voters might expect Obama pressed Jackson about whether she has to closely monitor her exposure to news, media, and other content "so that there isn't a bias."After noting that certain individuals employed at the court screen her invitations for various appearances and events "to make sure that there are no ethical conflicts," Jackson replied that "there are lots of limits on what judges can do, and I try to be very, very mindful and scrupulous with respect to that because, as you say, our obligation is to be unbiased in our approach.""And, so, you have to then navigate all the sources that could make for an appearance of partiality, which you want to avoid," the Biden nominee continued. "So there are lots of things that I end up not accepting for that reason. News sources, I think, you know, I don't have a lot of time — unfortunately, you know — but I do, you know, the normal, general media sources are made available, and I think it's harder when you're talking about — there's so much social media now."Jackson's expression of concern about bias and perceptions of bias while in the company of a rank partisan like Michelle Obama struck some critics as insincere or at the very least tone-deaf.House Republican Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) highlighted the cognitive dissonance, writing, "Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson says SCOTUS must avoid even the appearance of political bias ... while appearing on Michelle Obama's podcast."Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) wrote, "Ketanji Brown Jackson finds a way to inject political bias into just about everything she does. Whether it's attending the Grammys, joining Michelle Obama's podcast, or refusing to define the word woman, she couldn't care less about remaining impartial.""DEI hire justice Ketanji Brown Jackson says she's careful about which public engagements she accepts because she has to be impartial ... As she appears on MICHELLE OBAMA's podcast," Libs of TikTok tweeted. "Can't make this up."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Virginia Democrats are welcoming criminals back to the ballot box.Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) has restored voting rights to 66,085 felons in her first six months in office. That’s 56,000 more than former Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) restored during his entire four-year tenure, according to the official annual reports filed by the secretary of the commonwealth.‘A shameful relic of our Jim Crow past.’“I’m proud that — after contending with my predecessor's efforts to deny Virginians their fundamental rights — we have restored the rights of more than 66,000 Virginians who have served their time,” Spanberger said in a Friday press release. “These Virginians deserve the right to use their vote, make their voices heard, and be recognized as contributing citizens to our Commonwealth and country.”Spanberger's office did not respond to requests for comment. Under Youngkin, applicants were required to submit a formal Restoration of Rights form detailing whether they had completed all terms of incarceration, were on probation or parole, or had been convicted of a violent offense. Felons were also asked if they had “paid all fines, fees, and restitution” or were currently paying them, according to court filings.Spanberger’s administration axed those safeguards.RELATED: Illegal immigrant allegedly attacks Virginia police — after dodging persecution for allegedly choking his wife JASON REDMOND/AFP/Getty Images The new team “re-established processes to both review applications and proactively identify — and restore the rights of — Virginians who have lost their right to vote” and is using “a streamlined, online system that removed unnecessary questions added during the Youngkin administration," according to the press release.The removed questions included the requirement to report probation status and fine repayment. The governor also instructed Secretary of the Commonwealth Candi Mundon King to expand “proactive identification” of eligible ex-convicts.Current eligibility is determined by whether a person has been convicted of a felony and is no longer incarcerated.“By giving these Virginians back their ability to make an impact at the local, state, and national levels, we are empowering our neighbors to take hold of their second chance,” Spanberger said. “This fall, voters can cast their ballots for Virginia to no longer strip so many of our neighbors of their fundamental rights — a shameful relic of our Jim Crow past.”Virginia voters will decide in November whether to pass a constitutional amendment automatic restoration of voting rights for released felon inmates. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Liberal Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson appeared on Michelle Obama's "IMO" podcast this week in an episode titled, "Move Through the Hard Times with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson." Ketanji Jackson discussed her life before serving on the Supreme Court, motherhood and other topics.
The post Liberal Justice Ketanji Jackson Mocked For Discussing the Importance of Impartiality… While Appearing on Michelle Obama’s Podcast (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
WASHINGTON — A Republican civil war is emerging over President Donald Trump’s stalled attorney general nominee, Todd Blanche.President Donald Trump is now threatening to pull Blanche’s nomination until next year after retiring Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) continue to demand to see in writing Blanche’s promise that the Justice Department’s $1.8 billion weaponization fund is dead.The back-and-forth has some rank-and-file Republicans starting to vent publicly after the Senate Judiciary Committee canceled its nomination vote on Blanche, scheduled for Thursday morning. “It's ridiculous,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) told Raw Story of Cornyn, who lost his primary to Trump-backed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. “It's just sour grapes. That's all it is.”“Trump was saying maybe Cornyn’s mad at him?” Raw Story pressed. “I’m sure he is. Cornyn’s been up here long enough. You know, been up here that long, you need to go home,” Tuberville said. “But at the end of the day, some of these people need to learn that it's time to pack your bags and go back to normal life and reap what you sowed.”The frustration’s palpable, even if few GOP senators are willing to go as far as Tuberville — publicly, at least.In Blanche’s more than a day-long grilling of a nomination hearing earlier this month before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the acting attorney general promised the special fund to pay the president’s aggrieved allies — like the Jan. 6, 2021 felons the president pardoned — was dead, which was good enough for most Republicans, just not Cornyn and Tillis. “He looked us in the eye and said that that was dead, so I don't know what their hang-up is right now,” Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) told Raw Story. Marshall says now’s no time to derail the Republican Party priorities that the DOJ’s been tasked with. “We're calling for a special counsel to investigate the origin of COVID, to investigate what's going on with this. All the whistleblowers that [Dr. Anthony] Fauci was able to squelch. I mean, that's about one example,” Marshall said. “In this country, fraud is so rampant. We need an attorney general out there throwing bad people in jail.” “And do you think this is sour grapes because the president didn’t back them?” Raw Story asked. “Look, you know, we're all human beings,” Marshall said. “We all have some emotional baggage going with us, but I think they're sincere, too. I think that they're sincere people and they're good people.” “But now that they're on their way out and making a stink, is that annoying?” Raw Story pressed. “Look, we gotta stay together. Whatever it takes for us to stay together as a team. The last thing we need is any type of Republican on Republican violence going on,” Marshall said. “I don't know if this rises to the level of violence, but it's not helpful.”Cornyn and Tillis are retiring at the end of this year, which seems to have loosened them both up. But they deny they’re on a vengeance tour against Trump. “Some of your Republican colleagues say this is just sour grapes,” Raw Story asked Tillis. “What do you make of that?” “You're probably talking to a very small percentage of people here whose opinions I could care less about,” Tillis told Raw Story. When asked if Blanche would have a better chance of being confirmed as attorney general next year when they’re gone, Tillis demurred. “I've said, I'm not a no. I'm still working on getting this done,” Tillis said. “And I'm still optimistic that we will.” This Republican-controlled Senate has already confirmed Blanche once, just not to a Cabinet-level position, which is why Tillis and Cornyn say they’re not trying to derail his nomination. They just want to see Blanche’s promises enshrined in text. “Blanche is going to continue to be the deputy attorney general, because he's been Senate confirmed,” Cornyn told a scrum of congressional reporters Thursday. “But I'd like to get this put behind us and move on to other things.”To Tuberville, Cornyn risks tarnishing his 24-year career as a U.S. senator by holding up President Trump’s agenda as he heads for the exit.“It's a bad look. A bad look for John. You don't go out that way. He'll be looked at as somebody that just doesn't like the guy that didn't endorse him,” Tuberville said. “I mean, you still got to vote for your state. My God.”When it comes to the so-called weaponization fund, Tuberville’s fine with his fellow Republicans opposing it, but the Alabama gubernatorial candidate says that’s no reason to block the Senate from proceeding with Blanche’s nomination.“Don't hold that against someone. I mean, just vote against it,” Tuberville said. “That just goes to show you when they have sour grapes, and they said, ‘we're not going to do this if we don't get that,’ it's like a bunch of kids.”
