Kennedy to Jackson: You’d be okay with 28 Supreme Court justices?

Source: United States Senator John Kennedy (Louisiana)

 

Watch Kennedy’s comments here.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today questioned Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson during her nomination hearing to become an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. The remarks include:

Kennedy: “Do you have an opinion about whether these efforts to pack the United States Supreme Court delegitimize the court? Do you have an opinion?”

Jackson: “Senator, I have an opinion about the efforts. It’s not an opinion that I think is appropriate for me to share. And, so, therefore, I don’t have anything further to add.”

Kennedy: “So, you do have an opinion, but you don’t want to share it?”

Jackson: “I don’t think it’s appropriate for me as a nominee to comment on a political matter that is in the province of Congress.”

Kennedy: “Well, in deciding to join the United States Supreme Court, if you’re affirmed, wouldn’t it make a difference to you whether you’re one of nine or one of 28?”

Jackson: “Would it make a difference?”

Kennedy: “Don’t you think that impacts the judiciary, that involves the judiciary?”

Jackson: “Senator, certainly it involves the judiciary. I would be thrilled to be one of however many Congress thought it appropriate to put on the court.”

Kennedy: “You’d be okay if it was 28?”

Jackson: “If that’s Congress’s determination, yes. The Congress makes political decisions like that.”

Watch this exchange here.