Confirm Jackson to high court

For those who tuned into the four-day confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, it became clear that she's well qualified. During those long days of intense questioning from Senate Judiciary Committee members, Jackson was unflappable — calmly responding to demonstrate her deep understanding of the Constitution and her commitment to fair interpretation of the law. Her nomination should be approved.

It also became clear that several of the committee's Republican questioners were doing more grandstanding and trying out talking points for the midterm elections than framing relevant questions about the nominee's approach to serving on the Supreme Court.

An Associated Press fact-checking analysis of the questions found that several contained false or misleading statements. For example, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., in an effort to paint Jackson as soft on crime, said the judge had "opined there may be a type of 'less-serious child pornography offender.' ... 'A 'less-serious' child porn offender?"

But the fact check noted that she had opined no such thing. She had asked questions about the idea as a vice chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission during a 2012 sentencing guidelines hearing.

As the Star Tribune Editorial Board has previously noted, Jackson comes from a law enforcement family, with a brother and two uncles who were police officers, one of them chief of police in Miami. In support of her nomination, the National Fraternal Order of Police wrote: "There is little doubt that she has the temperament, intellect, legal experience and family background to have earned this appointment."

Judge Jackson would become the only member of the high court with experience as a public defender. Few have questioned her academic credentials; she holds two Harvard degrees with honors. She's been a lawyer in private practice, a trial and appellate court judge, and a clerk for Justice Stephen Breyer, the retiring member of the court she would replace.

She would be the fourth person of color and the sixth woman to serve on the high court. As the first Black female justice, Jackson would help reflect the diversity of America.

Jackson is expected to get the votes of the 11 Democrats on the committee and all 50 members of the Democratic caucus in the Senate. And now that Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has committed to voting for Jackson, there appear to be 51 votes in support of her confirmation.

Sen. Collins and the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board said they don't expect to always agree with Jackson's opinions as a Supreme Court justice. That may be true for this Editorial Board as well. Yet, as Collins wisely said in a statement of support for Jackson, "That alone, however, is not disqualifying. Indeed, that statement applies to all six justices, nominated by both Republican and Democratic presidents, whom I have voted to confirm. … In my view, the role the Constitution clearly assigns to the Senate is to examine the experience, qualifications, and integrity of the nominee. … It is not to assess whether a nominee reflects the ideology of an individual senator or would rule exactly as an individual senator would want."