- A retired federal judge nominated by George W. Bush praised Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson at her confirmation hearings.
- Thomas B. Griffith lauded Jackson for upholding the rule of law, which he said is "under attack" in Ukraine.
- He added that there "should be nothing unusual" about GOP-appointed judges supporting Jackson.
A former federal judge who was appointed to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush expressed strong support on Monday for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation to the Supreme Court.
Retired Judge Thomas B. Griffith, who served on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, was one of two legal scholars who introduced Jackson during her first day of confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Griffith also sits on President Joe Biden's bipartisan commission to study reforms to the Supreme Court, and his endorsement of Jackson came last month following President Joe Biden's announcement of her nomination.
In his remarks, Griffith praised Jackson as an "independent jurist who adjudicates based on the facts and the law, and not as a partisan."
He also highlighted her commitment to the rule of law, and pointed to Russia's unprovoked war in Ukraine as an example of how it is threatened in various countries around the world.
"The rule of law is a fragile possibility in the best of times," Griffith said. "Today, it is literally under attack in Ukraine and is threatened around the world, and in our own country, by autocrats and their sympathizers, who give lip service to the rule of law but then work to undermine it every turn."
Jackson's "rule is simple," Griffith continued. "Follow the law."
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The former judge added how some observers might think it's "noteworthy" that a Republican-appointed judge would "enthusiastically" support a Democratic president's nominee to the high court.
This "reaction is a measure of the dangerous hyperpartisanship that has seeped into every nook and cranny of our nation's life and against which the Framers of the Constitution warned us," he said.
Griffith mentioned previous instances in which Supreme Court nominees have sailed through their confirmation hearings with broad, bipartisan support. Examples include the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who was confirmed by a vote of 98-0 in 1986, and late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, confirmed by a vote of 96-3 in 1993.
"There should be nothing unusual about my support for a highly qualified nominee who has demonstrated through her life's work her commitment to the rule of law and an impartial judiciary," Griffith said.
Besides Griffith, Jackson has received endorsements from several conservative figures, including retired federal judge J. Michael Luttig, a George H.W. Bush appointee, and prominent Republican lawyer William Burck.
Griffith's praise came after Republicans and Democrats on the committee gave their opening statements on the first day of Jackson's confirmation hearings. The senators will begin questioning Jackson on Tuesday.
Both parties on Monday congratulated Jackson on her nomination, yet it's unclear whether any GOP members will throw their support behind her. If confirmed, Jackson would become the first ever Black woman on the Supreme Court.