GOP senators complain that Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexual assault, was treated with less respect than Ketanji Brown Jackson

• Republican senators aired old Brett Kavanaugh grievances at Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearing.
• They accused Democrats of turning Kavanaugh’s 2018 confirmation hearings into a “circus”.
• Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault. Jackson has not been accused of sexual assault.

Several Republican senators on Monday complained that Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was treated less respectfully during his 2018 confirmation hearings than Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson during hers this week.

The comments came at the very beginning of Jackson’s confirmation hearings, a historic moment that could result in Jackson being the first Black woman to sit on the high court. President Joe Biden nominated her to replace outgoing Justice Stephen Breyer.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, addressing Jackson on Monday, said, “When we say that this is not Kavanaugh, what do we mean? It means that Democratic senators are not going to have their windows busted by groups. That’s what it means.”

“It means that no Republican senator is going to unleash on you an attack about your character when the hearing is virtually over,” the South Carolina Republican continued. “None of us, I hope, have been sitting on information about you as a person. For weeks or months, you come into our offices and we never share it with you to allow you to give your side of the story.”

Graham was referring to the way Democrats handled Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her when the two were in high school.

Republicans have repeatedly accused Democrats of weaponizing the confirmation process in Kavanaugh’s case and releasing Ford’s allegations at a politically opportune time to try and sink his nomination to the court.

After Kavanaugh’s appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee had concluded by early September 2018, it was reported that California Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s office had a letter from Ford detailing her allegations against Kavanaugh.

By “the next morning there were headlines all over the country really accusing Judge Kavanaugh of being basically Bill Cosby,” Graham said to Jackson on Monday. “None of us are going to do that to you, and if any of us does that to you, all hell will break out, as it should.”

“There won’t be this constant attack on you like Judge Kavanaugh and other conservative judicial appointments,” he added.

‘No one is going to inquire into your teenage dating habits’

Sen. Ted Cruz also used his opening statement to air out his grievances about how Kavanaugh was treated.

“You’ve heard a number of members on the Republican side of the aisle be quite clear on what” the confirmation hearing “should not be,” Cruz said, addressing Jackson. “This will not be a political circus. This will not be the kind of character smear that, sadly, our Democratic colleagues have gotten very good at.”

The Texas Republican then pointed to the highly publicized hearings of other conservative Supreme Court nominees, including Robert Bork, who was criticized for his opposition to key rulings that expanded voting rights and civil rights, and Clarence Thomas, who was accused of sexually harassing Anita Hill and other women who worked for him.

Ford, who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee during Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, gave a lurid account of how when they were in high school, he pinned her to a bed, groped her, and held his hand over her mouth as she screamed. She also described the effect the alleged attack had on her life, how she came to the decision to make her allegations public, and how that choice impacted her family.

“I am here today not because I want to be. I am terrified. I am here because I believe it is my civic duty,” she told lawmakers at the time.

Kavanaugh has maintained his innocence and accused Democrats of ruining his reputation.

Cruz on Monday described Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing as “one of the lowest moments in the history of this committee.” He was not referring to Ford’s allegations of sexual assault but to the way in which they became public.

“We began a circus that featured Spartacus moments,” he said, later adding: “Judge Jackson, I can assure you that your hearing will feature none of that disgraceful behavior. No one is going to inquire into your teenage dating habits. No one is going to ask you with mock severity, ‘Do you like beer?‘”

Jackson has not been accused of sexual assault or sexual misconduct.

The Senate voted 50-48 to confirm Kavanaugh’s nomination, and he has served on the high court since October 2018.