By Dave Dahl
SPRINGFIELD – The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), looks forward to the confirmation hearings next week for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson.
“Her record is well-known: almost six hundred written opinions define her position on the law in graphic detail. 12,000 pages which she has provided of work on the sentencing commission,” said Durbin during an online news conference Friday, “so that every vote that she took, every position she took, is spelled out in detail, so those who are looking to understand this judge and her judicial philosophy has ample evidence. And I think it shows an exceptional person.”
Exceptionally bad, says Durbin, is U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-Mo.) insinuation that Jackson is soft on child sex offenses.
On other issues, Durbin said while he is open to discuss a temporary suspension of the federal gas tax (18 cents), he suspects Big Oil of price gouging, as the price of a barrel of oil is already headed back down.
And Durbin’s concerned about Russia’s detention of basketball star Brittney Griner on suspicion of drug charges; the case is on hold until mid-May, and Durbin says it could be President Vladimir Putin’s payback to the U.S.
Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].
