Last week, Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson faced multiple days of questioning from the U.S. Senate Judiciary committee.
Her nomination as the first Black woman to the nation’s highest court has given hope to many Black women and other women of color, but the disrespectful tone and irrelevant questions that frequented the hearings also illustrate how exhausting it is to rise to such heights.
"What we saw was a lot of political theater rather than true questions about judicial methodology, about overall qualifications and record," American University law professor Lia Epperson said.
The constitutional law professor joined Midday Edition on Monday to talk about her reactions to the hearings, as well as to reflect on her own experiences as a Black woman in law.
"I think for so many Black women, watching this process — these confirmation hearings — there is something very familiar to the process, and almost feeling very acutely — the jabs if you will — some of the lines of attacks of the senators," Epperson said.
"And I do believe that it was a line of questioning in many instances that we would not have seen if it were not a Black woman sitting in that seat," she said.
