Jackson’s confirmation by the US Senate – to be the first black woman in the Supreme Court – “enables us to see the court as a more representative body at the highest level,” Hill said. Hill’s name has been associated with the Supreme Court nomination process for more than 30 years, after in 1991 she accused then-candidate Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment. She faced strong questions about her accusations from a committee of senators who were exclusively men. The current president, Joe Biden, who chaired the Senate Justice Committee at the time as a Delaware senator, said he regretted the way her allegations had been handled. “More work needs to be done at other levels of the federal system, but this is an important moment because it’s happening at the top of our system,” Hill said Thursday, confirming Jackson. Throughout the Senate review process, Democratic senators praised Jackson as a highly trained, fancy candidate whose depth and breadth of experience, including as a federal public defender, would add a valuable and unique perspective to the . But her confirmation hearings also included sharp and critical questions from Republicans, as many tried to portray Jackson as weak in crime and, in a very charged line of attack, too lenient in convicting her of child pornography cases. Hill said Thursday that while she was not surprised by the behavior of some senators, it was still “shocking” to see how she treated Jackson. “I think he did an excellent job and a very thoughtful job, talking about the way he judged and how he saw the law and the importance of the law. “And, you know, it’s very bad that it was tarnished by the kind of tactics used by some of the senators, which were just overt attacks,” Hill said.
