Sen. Lindsey Graham opened his questioning on Tuesday of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson by asking her about her faith, raising the issue in an effort to rehash what he said was the “offensive” treatment of Justice Amy Coney Barrett in past confirmation hearings.
Barrett, a practicing Catholic and appointee of President Donald Trump, faced questions at her 2020 Supreme Court confirmation hearing about how her faith might inform how she would rule from the bench. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said at a 2017 confirmation hearing for Barrett’s nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit that “the dogma lives loudly within you, and that is a concern,” one of several remarks that Barrett supporters criticized as anti-Catholic bigotry.
“If you express your faith as a conservative, all of the sudden, you’re an ‘effing nut.’ And we’re tired of it,” Graham (R-S.C.) said, referring to a comment made by comedian Bill Maher in 2020. “And it’s not going to happen to you.”
Graham began his questioning by asking which faith Jackson practices. She is a nondenominational Protestant, she responded, to which Graham asked, “On a scale of one to 10, how faithful would you say you are, in terms of religion?”
Jackson expressed that her faith is important, but noted “there’s no religious test in the Constitution under Article VI.”
“There will be none with me,” Graham said, interrupting her.
Graham expressed discontent with the way Barrett’s faith was weaponized as a potential hindrance during her 2020 confirmation hearings. He also spoke of Justice Samuel Alito and former D.C. Circuit judge Janice Rogers Brown, suggesting that they were the subject of unfair treatment by Democrats because of their conservative views.
“But it just appalls me that we can have such a system in America that if a conservative woman wants to stand out and say, ‘I love my family just as much as you love yours, and my faith means just as much to me as it does you,’ then all of a sudden, they’re some kind of weirdo,” Graham said.
Graham also expressed grievances over the treatment of Michelle Childs, a South Carolina federal district court judge who was a candidate for the Supreme Court vacancy Jackson was nominated to fill. Graham claimed “a lot of people from the left” made an effort to “destroy” Childs, and asked Jackson if she was aware of a “concerted effort to disqualify Judge Childs.”
“All I can say is the fact that so many of these left-wing radical groups, that would destroy the law as we know it, declared war on Michelle Childs and supported you is problematic for me,” Graham said.
