CNN senior political correspondent Abby Phillip could hardly contain her excitement on New Day on Friday when the news broke that President Biden has nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. Phillip hailed the nomination as one that could help address “the unfairness in the system” that exists for minority defendants.
Host Brianna Keilar actually wondered how her judicial views could impact the Court: “How do you think she'll impact the opinions, the questions that are asked, bringing, you know, a background including as a defender that other justices do not have?”
Instead of interpreting and applying the law, Phillip voiced approval of a nominee who will approach questions before the Court with a political lens, declaring her tenure as a federal public defender will allow her to take into “consideration the perspective not just of the establishment, but also of potentially the -- the unfairness in the system that sometimes perpetrated at black and brown defendants and I think that's one of the factors in her nomination as well.”
A few moments earlier, Phillip also hailed the historic nature of Jackson’s nomination: “The White House is preparing to activate a host of outside groups to back her up, black women's organizations that have been critical to the Democratic Party's success are ready and waiting to back -- they were ready and waiting to back any of the nominees, but ready and waiting to back Judge Brown Jackson.”
There’s the rub: Biden pledged to nominate a black woman, but of course he really meant a liberal black woman. Phillip unwittingly admitted that.
This segment was sponsored by DirecTV.
Here is a transcript for the February 25 show:
CNN New Day with John Berman and Brianna Keilar
2/25/2022
8:53 AM ET
BRIANNA KEILAR: Yeah, it—It-- is a very big deal and to talk about that aspect of it, Abby Phillip is joining us now. You know, assuming she is confirmed, she'll be the first African-American female justice on the Supreme Court, which look, maybe not officially, but at least in practice, has disqualifying when it comes to nominees up until now, Abby.
ABBY PHILLIP: Yeah. I mean, this has been a long time in the making and it’s already been the source of some political back and forth, but I think that what you're going to see realistically, Brianna, is I think you're going to see mainstream Republicans not picking a fight over that issue. Knowing that it is a political loser. The White House is preparing to activate a host of outside groups to back her up, black women's organizations that have been critical to the Democratic Party's success are ready and waiting to back -- they were ready and waiting to back any of the nominees, but ready and waiting to back Judge Brown Jackson. So, this is going to be, I think, they are prepared for the attacks, but I also think that you can see based on how, you know, Mitch McConnell has been signaling in the last week, he doesn't want to pick a fight over the issue of the fact that she is African-American, but I think you can—you can--- expect the usual, they're going to pick through her—her-- rulings. They are going to dissect everything she has ever said in her private life and in her public life, and that is going to be the real battleground on which this is fought.
KEILAR: How do you think she'll impact the opinions, the questions that are asked, bringing, you know, a background including as a defender that other justices do not have?
PHILLIP: I mean look, she is coming from -- as you pointed out, it’s not just that she is a black woman, although that is very important. She’s coming from a background, as you said, as a public defender, as someone who has -- who has worked in a different part of the legal system, I mean, I think typically you see folks going on to the Supreme Court from—from-- much different backgrounds, from private practice, from academic backgrounds, she was a public defender and one of the things that a lot of advocates on the Democratic side have been saying is that they want someone who is coming at the law from a different perspective. Who is -- who can take into—into-- consideration the perspective not just of the establishment, but also of potentially the—the—the—the-- unfairness in the system that sometimes perpetrated at black and brown defendants and I think that's one of the factors in her nomination as well.
