On Tuesday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) questioned Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson on her faith during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing. Graham said he made it a point to ask because Republicans disapproved of how Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett was treated based on her religious beliefs during her hearings.
During the confirmation hearing, Graham asks a series of questions about Jackson’s personal background and faith. Graham started his interrogation by saying, “What faith are you, by the way?” Jackson started to respond that she identifies as a nondenominational Protestant, but Graham interrupted to ask if she could judge a Catholic person fairly.
Jackson expressed her reluctance to answer questions about her personal faith but assured the public that she can separate her personal views from the cases she judges. Graham referred to Barrett’s 2020 confirmation hearing saying, “Judge Barrett, I thought, was treated very, very poorly,” because of her strong Catholic beliefs and added that he thinks Jackson’s faith will not affect her ability to be fair.
Jackson said, “it’s very important to set aside one’s personal views about things in the role of a judge. There’s no religious test in the Constitution.”
