Biden's Supreme Court nominee meets with Senate leaders, judiciary panel members

Biden's Supreme¹ Court nominee² meets with Senate leaders, judiciary panel members

Transcript³

The nomination⁴ of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court took its first steps in Congress this week. How did the meetings with Senate leaders go, and what comes next?

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The confirmation⁵ process for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and her nomination to the Supreme Court is now fully⁶ underway. Democrats⁷ hope the Senate will confirm her by next month. And this, of course, is a familiar process for many senators. It is the fourth time they've considered a nominee to the high court in the past five years.

NPR congressional correspondent Kelsey Snell is following the confirmation process, and she joins me now. Hey, Kelsey.

KELSEY SNELL, BYLINE⁸: Hi there. Good morning.

MARTIN: So Democrats want this done by next month. Is that likely?

SNELL: That is their plan, and they really do seem to be working towards that goal. Judge Jackson filled out a lengthy⁹ questionnaire on her background and started meeting with leaders and members of the judiciary committee on Capitol Hill this week. And so hearings are set to start on March 21, which is really not too far from now. Now, those hearings usually last about four days, and then the committee does deliberations and some procedural work. And Democrats say they're really on track for a final vote on the Senate floor before Easter. They say their focus right now is on making the case that Jackson is more than qualified¹⁰ and deserves bipartisan support.

Here's how Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer put it.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

CHUCK SCHUMER: If confirmed, Judge Jackson would have one of the most diverse professional backgrounds of any sitting justice.

SNELL: He kind of talked about how she has all of the qualifications that make her right for the court and right for right now. And Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Dick Durbin says he believes at least one Republican will be voting for her, and he's personally lobbying for more. And he expects he can win some people over.

MARTIN: Can he?

SNELL: (Laughter).

MARTIN: I mean, are there any Republicans signaling that they plan to vote for her confirmation?

SNELL: Well, it's possible for a couple of reasons. One is that Jackson got three Republican votes when she was confirmed to the appeals court last year. And it's possible that even more Republicans could decide to support her now. And that may sound strange because this is a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the country. But the balance of the court isn't in question here, and Jackson is truly a historic nominee. She's also coming up for confirmation at a time when a number of Republicans are retiring, so they have a little bit less, you know, political stake here. And she's got the backing of the Fraternal Order of Police and several conservative judges. So all of that combined has some Democrats speculating that some, maybe not a lot, of Republicans could set aside their objections and confirm her.

MARTIN: So what are the objections? I mean, when Republicans, however many of them are there who critique her, what do they say?

SNELL: Well, they fall into a couple of camps. You know, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell met with Judge Jackson this week, and he says she's clearly a sharp lawyer with an impressive resume. But he did go on, and he made this critique questioning the questions she didn't answer, like her position on expanding the court, which is sometimes called court packing. But you know, Democrats say it's not uncommon¹¹ for nominees¹² to decline to weigh in on topics that are questions for Congress and not the court. They also point out that Justice Amy Coney Barrett gave a similar response during her confirmation. Another Republican allegation is that Judge Jackson is backed by liberal outside groups.

Here's how McConnell put it.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MITCH MCCONNELL: So I intend to explore what groups that are waging political war against the court as an institution decided¹³ Judge Jackson was their special favorite.

SNELL: Now, I'm hearing that particular attack a lot. It's something that Republicans are bringing up. They're kind of talking about this idea of shadowy groups supporting Jackson. But Democrats say they're prepared to respond to that. The Congressional Black Caucus¹⁴ in particular has already said it plans to launch a massive messaging campaign to counter those kinds of allegations.

MARTIN: NPR congressional correspondent Kelsey Snell - thank you, Kelsey.

SNELL: Thanks for having me.

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

5 confirmation   

n.证实，确认，批准

参考例句：

• We are waiting for confirmation of the news.我们正在等待证实那个消息。
• We need confirmation in writing before we can send your order out.给你们发送订购的货物之前，我们需要书面确认。

6 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

7 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

9 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

10 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

11 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

12 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

13 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

14 caucus   

n.秘密会议；干部会议；v.（参加）干部开会议

参考例句：

• This multi-staged caucus takes several months.这个多级会议常常历时好几个月。
• It kept the Democratic caucus from fragmenting.它也使得民主党的核心小组避免了土崩瓦解的危险。