#32 - High Court, Higher Standards

or: it's actually not a bad thing for our public officials to be the smartest and most compassionate people in the room

The confirmation hearings of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson have not been easy to watch this week.

It’s been wild to see Q-Anon conspiracy rhetoric being peddled by people who sit in one of the most ~elite~ jobs in the country. They are supposed to be the best of us. Or at least like the best two from each state. (And while I have a lot of issues with the fact that the Senate exists in its current form, I have to live in the world in which it does, so I have to take its power at face value.)

The week of Brett Kavanaugh’s hearings are seared into my brain. Indelible in the hippocampus. I broke down on the 6 train on the way home from work throughout that week. I went and got a pitcher of margaritas with my best friend at Rosie’s and we spoke about our worst fears in hushed tones. It was the week that confirmed for me just how much we hate women. Just how far “boys will be boys” had seeped into the culture and rotted it to the core. I hate that as I scroll through Twitter this week, Kavanaugh’s stingy crimson face is being compared with the serenity of Hon. Jackson’s as she sits through Ted Cruz’s lame attempt at gotcha questions. (And while we all know my thoughts on Leahy, he did get a few zingers in against ‘ol Ted and for that, I thank him.) (Also, just because we’re here, I’d like to remind everyone that Ted Cruz publicly liked stepmom incest porn on Twitter!! AND he liked the post on 9/11!!! AAAHHH!)

The Supreme Court is a deeply flawed body. It was designed in ways that no longer make sense, and it has so unfortunately followed in the deeply partisan footsteps of the other branches of government in the post-9/11 nationalistic push we are still suffering the effects of.

It has been flawed throughout history, but certainly, it lost all credibility before I was even born, when they confirmed known sexual harasser Clarence Thomas to the court. Anita Hill is a national hero who had to live through the gross abuses of her boss and then had the bravery to tell the country about it, only to receive humiliation and scorn.

But! Anita Hill’s legacy of educating the entire country about what sexual harassment looks like aligns with reports of sexual harassment going from 7,000/year before the trial to over 18,000/year after. (And while part of the surge might also be the legislation around prosecuting said reports, it’s a figure that we should not ignore!!) And like many maligned women of history, we’re now aware that societally we need to honor her impact and commend her for her bravery in the absolute bullshit onslaught that followed her testimony.

Clarence Thomas should have never been confirmed.

But he was! And now, like right now, we have reports that his wife used her connections, money, and power to support an attempted coup. Like, she wasn’t just hanging around the capital on the 6th of January, 2021. She is not just a random person who strolled by and wanted to see what was going on at the capital that day. She is a long-time right-wing activist and when the SUPREME COURT (remember, the court on which her husband sits) was deciding what documents would be released to the committee in charge of rooting out what happened that day and who was responsible, her husband did not recuse himself from the vote. It turns out the motion to release documents to the committee was blocked by ONE VOTE. And you’ll never guess what we just found out!!

Ginni Thomas was not just there during the insurrection, no no, she was texting the Chief of Staff about the insurrection and how he should be doing more to overturn the election.

So, to recap, Clarence Thomas, voted on a case while knowing his wife could be implicated depending on his vote. He did not recuse himself. Therefore, he should resign from the court and we should REDO THE VOTE.

I don’t know why that wouldn’t make his vote immediately illegitimate, ya know? Like, someone explain to me how if this was happening in a lower court, we wouldn’t immediately be demanding that the judge be removed from the case. And for there to be a retrial or reconsideration of the outcome. There’s like, a ton of precedent in law about spouses. (Do I know specifics? No! But I have seen it jokes about double indemnity on Arrested Development, and that’s like the same thing right?)

Impeachment is also an actionable thing that could happen. The ✨Founding Fathers✨ reeeeeally understood that a lot of politicians were absolute shitheads—and while they didn’t regard anyone but white men as people, they did at least acknowledge that those white men would probably need to be held accountable for their shitty actions every once in a while. Hence, impeachment!! This was Constitutional Convention wisdom, like, this wasn’t the Bill Of Rights being added later. Article II section IV, motherfuckers! (Also, the founders of this country all like haaaaated each other, and the dramz was SO GOOD in that sweaty sweaty room in Philly that summer. All of them just schvitzing in full wool suits.)

I do believe that the government is supposed to represent the people, all people. And I think those that we choose to represent us hold a lot of responsibility, and when they fail to uphold that responsibility, we as the people get to say that they’re not good enough at their jobs and remove them. And the Supreme Court shouldn’t be lifetime nominees, because that’s fucking bonkers as an entire concept anyway!!

It’s okay that we ask that the people who represent us think of all of us, consider all human beings, to be equal. That’s actually like, a fundamental part of the law as written. It’s okay that Al Franken resigned from the Senate when it turned out he had been incredibly shitty to women in the past. I think it’s actually a good thing that the women of Minnesota are represented by someone who doesn’t view them in the ways that Franken’s actions illustrated. (And yeah, I’m cool with him resigning over “one picture” because he actually resigned before a deeper investigation could take place into complaints that had been lodged against him while he was a sitting senator!! Did I enjoy his books and political thoughts? Yes! But he can still publish books and have those thoughts—he just doesn’t get to be one of two people representing the state of Minnesota in our most powerful legislative body anymore!!)

The Supreme Court is part of this ongoing experiment to create a more perfect union. We seemingly understood that the achievement of perfection was not an attainable goal, but rather our focus as the people should be the collective progress towards it. We may not get it right all the time, but the more beautiful world is one in which acknowledging past mistakes and the true harm they caused, allows for a better future in which we hold ourselves (and more importantly, our government) responsible, and we ask that future actions align more with the more perfect union we’re striving towards.

I really truly am so excited for the Honorable Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be confirmed to the court. Her confirmation is a big step towards that more perfect place. It’s been incredibly moving to hear about just how good she is at her job, to see how much her husband supports her, how proud her children are to have her as their mother, and to witness this moment in history. Her confirmation should not be cast against the lesser men who have been confirmed before her. Her achievement is monumental, and it should be treated as such.

Confirm her. Impeach Thomas.

Let’s goooo!

(Also, please, I beg us to not shorten her name to KBJ. There’s something very…off about the fact that women seem to keep getting initialized > named in full. I think it’s partly to do with my continued bleh-ness over Ruth Badger Ginsburg being regulated solely to an RBG nickname and that translating into “Notorious RBG” merch that came about during that very weird era of the 2010s when we as a culture kept “jokingly” appropriating AAVE and it needs to stop!) (Say women’s names in full!!!)