Jackson pushes back at GOP critics, defends record

By Mary Clare Jalonick and Mark Sherman

WASHINGTON (AP)– Facing Republican senators’ pointed questions, Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson is forcefully defending her record as a federal judge. She’s telling senators she will rule “from a position of neutrality” if she is confirmed as the first Black woman on the high court. In what one senator described as “a trial by ordeal,” Jackson answered questions right off the bat that attempted to deflect GOP concerns and also highlight the empathetic style that she has frequently described. Several Republicans used their questioning to brand Jackson and Democrats as soft on crime, an emerging theme in GOP midterm election campaigns.