DALLAS — Texas Sen. John Cornyn says he is a solid “no” when the Senate Judiciary Committee decides whether to send Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination to the full Senate, a vote scheduled for Monday, April 4.
“Frankly, I couldn’t get a good answer from her on whether she understands the difference between my job, which is to make policy, and her job which is to interpret the law, not make new judge-made law,” Cornyn said on Inside Texas Politics. “And so, because I think that was kind of a blind spot and something I didn’t have confidence in, I’m a no vote.”
Cornyn says this is his eighth Supreme Court vacancy since he’s been a member of the Senate. The Republican says compared to some of the worst examples of how nominees have been treated -- and he cited Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination hearing as a top example -- Jackson was treated with dignity and respect.
He told Inside Texas Politics she’s a seasoned lawyer and judge experienced with answering tough questions.
"Just because some of the members of the Committee were offended, or didn’t like the line of questions, for example, the sentencing practices for child pornographers, I thought the Judge was capable of answering those questions and certainly did not think the questions were out-of-bounds," Cornyn said. "If you can’t ask the Judge about her own record, I don’t know what you can ask about."
Cornyn also just returned from a trip to Poland and Germany. The Congressional Delegation met with military leaders in both countries and the lawmakers also visited a refugee processing center along the Polish-Ukrainian border.
The senator says the U.S. needs to do more and do it faster. He says while the Ukrainians have done incredibly well defending themselves, they need more weapons.
And he saw firsthand the need for more humanitarian aid, calling it a genuine crisis.
“The world now knows what Putin’s character is like and he’s unified NATO and Europe as no one else could,” said Cornyn.
There have also been recent reports that the Texas power grid faces possible cyberattacks from Russian hackers. While energy companies in our state are on high alert, in terms of protecting the grid and infrastructure against such cyberattacks, Senator Cornyn calls it a “work in progress.”
“Unfortunately, cyberattacks are part of our daily life now,” he said. “And we have to continue to up our game. We’re not where we need to be. We’re trying. But there’s more we need to do.”
As COVID subsides in the United States, the Biden Administration has talked about ending the Title 42 Program, the controversial COVID-related expulsion policy along the border. Listen to Senator Cornyn’s Inside Texas Politics conversation with Jason Whitely to hear why the Senator sent a letter to the President urging him to keep the program in place: