- Sen. Cotton attacked
Ketanji Brown Jackson for representing terror suspects as a public defender. - Cotton argued that this means she would be willing to defend Nazi war criminals.
Republican Sen.
In a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday, Cotton renewed attacks on Jackson's work as a public defender, a recurrent theme for Republicans during her nomination hearings.
In the speech he criticised her for representing four men detained under anti-terrorism laws in Guantanamo Bay.
He omitted to mention that they were cases she was assigned as a public defender, rather than clients she chose to defend.
—Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) April 5, 2022
"Judge Jackson has also shown real interest in helping terrorists," Cotton stated.
"You know, the last Judge Jackson left the Supreme Court to go Nuremberg and prosecute the case against the Nazis," he said. "This Judge Jackson might've gone there to defend them."
Cotton was referring to Robert H Jackson's role in the prosecution of Nazi war criminals in the Nuremberg trials in 1945.
Legal experts told Vox that scrutiny of her work as a public defender is not merited, as she had no choice about the cases she took on. Everyone had the right to legal representation in the US, so even those accused of terrorism, rape, and murder can get a public defender to argue their case.
"Federal public defenders do not get to pick their clients," she said in a recent nomination hearing.
In a tweet Tuesday, the Anti-Defamation League described Cotton's conduct as "absolutely shameful."
"To use a Nazi analogy as some sort of twisted way to attack Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is reprehensible."
Democrats also criticised Cotton for the claim.
"The fact that a brilliant black woman is going to be a Supreme Court judge offends him so much that he doesn't even realize he just came out against due process," said Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.
Republicans have also launched a series of misleading attacks on Jackson's sentencing record as a federal judge on child abuse image cases, alleging she was lenient despite her
Despite fierce GOP attacks, three Republican senators have said they will vote for Jackson's confirmation in a vote expected to be held in the Senate either Thursday or Friday.