(Jewish Group) Are public Supreme Court confirmation hearings rooted in antisemitism?

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Biden’s nominee for the Supreme Court and the first Black woman to be nominated, just completed two days of intense, and at times racially loaded, questioning in front of Congress about her qualifications for the role. In recent years, these widely-publicized hearings have become a form of political theater, with nominees like Jackson subjected to off-base questions as senators show off for the cameras.

As it turns out, the very existence of these public hearings might be racially motivated, starting with Justice Louis Brandeis, whose controversial nomination precipitated the first public confirmation hearing in 1916.

Before Brandeis, hearings and investigations into Supreme Court nominees were closed-door affairs, and took place only when there were credible accusations of wrongdoing against the nominee. Nominees were regularly rejected — actually at a higher rate than today, nearly 25%. But there were no theatrical elements or attempts at public shaming; the Senate simply took a vote in private, or informed the nominating president that their nominee was not going to pass and allowed them to quietly withdraw.

But Brandeis was different, thanks to his pro-bono public interest work and reformist legal policies — and his Jewishness, which caused what University of Texas professor Lucas Powe called “blatant antisemitism” in his confirmation process. Woodrow Wilson, who nominated Brandeis, stood strongly behind the Jewish justice, leading to a new public procedure at which witnesses debated the justice’s qualifications and political affiliations. The confirmation process lasted four months — unheard of in an era in which most nominees were voted on within a matter of days.

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This serves as a reminder of a few things; 1. anti-Semitism is a real form of bigotry directed against JEWS, 2. bigotry never is contained or stops with just one minority, and 3. history may not "repeat" but it sure does echo!