- SCOTUS nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson said critical race theory is not part of her work as a judge.
- "It's never something that I've studied or relied on," she said.
- Ted Cruz pressed Jackson for her views on critical race theory, an academic theory that conservatives have campaigned against.
Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on Tuesday said that she does not consider critical race theory in her work as a judge in response to questioning from Sen. Ted Cruz about her views on the issue.
"In your understanding, what does critical race theory mean? What is it?" Cruz asked Jackson.
"It is an academic theory that is about the ways in which race interacts with various institutions," Jackson said. "It doesn't come up in my work as a judge. It's never something that I've studied or relied on. And it wouldn't be something that I would rely on if I were on the Supreme Court."
Republicans and conservatives have waged a culture war against the teachings of critical race theory in K-12 schools, though educators say the academic framework for studying race in US laws and institutions is not a part of their curriculum. Cruz, in a recent e-book, argued that CRT concepts have "infiltrated our education system" and coached conservatives on how to "defeat it."
Cruz pressed Jackson on whether she's aware if critical race theory is being taught in K-12 schools, to which Jackson replied that she is unsure, but doesn't believe so.
Cruz then proceeded to present a stack of books that he claimed are taught in Georgetown Day School, a K-12 school in Washington, DC, where Jackson is on the board of trustees. Some of the books he shared were titled "How to be an Antiracist" and "Antiracist Baby," both by author Ibram X. Kendi.
"It is filled and overflowing with critical race theory," Cruz said of the school's curriculum. "Do you agree with this book that is being taught with kids that babies are racist?"
Jackson responded that she doesn't believe that "any child should be made to feel as though they are racist, or though they are not valued, or though they are less than, that they are victims, that they are oppressors."
Jackson added that she has not reviewed those books or ideas that Cruz shared.
"They don't come up in my work as a judge, which I'm respectfully here to address," she said.
According to her understanding, Jackson said critical race theory as an academic theory is taught in law schools. She also said that the board of trustees at Georgetown Day School does not control the school's curriculum.
Cruz's questioning came during Jackson's second day of her confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court. If confirmed, Jackson would make history as the first Black woman on the nation's highest court and would replace the retiring Associate Justice Stephen Breyer.
He also pointed to a 2015 lecture in which she described sentencing as "just plain interesting on an intellectual level" because it melds together myriad types of law, including critical race theory. Jackson said she was talking about the academic disciplines that relate sentencing policy, and not about sentencing. "But none of that relates to what I do as a judge," she said.
During her opening statement on Monday, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, said Jackson has "made clear" that she believes judges must consider CRT when deciding how to sentence criminal defendants.
"Is it your personal hidden agenda to incorporate critical race theory into our legal system?" Blackburn said. "These are answers that the American people need to know."
The Republican National Committee and activists have been pushing senators to focus on critical race theory after the conservative news site Daily Wire found that Jackson in a 2020 lecture highlighted a book by the late civil rights attorney and professor Derrick Bell, a founding critical race theorist, and said her parents kept the book on their coffee table for many years.
Conservative activist Christopher Rufo, a leading voice against CRT, tweeted that senators should cite passages from the book and ask if she agrees with them. "Put her on the spot about critical race theory," he tweeted.
The Daily Wire review found Jackson has avoided "openly championing" critical race theory, a framework for studying racism in US laws and institutions. But, the report says, she has complimented CRT advocates in speeches "and suggested that the progressive theory informs her legal analysis."