WATCH: Ted Cruz Stumps Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on Critical Race Theory in Sentencing

Joel B. PollakMarch 22, 2022

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) questioned Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson about her support for the “1619 Project” and Critical Race Theory during her confirmation hearing on Tuesday, catching her in several contradictions.

As Breitbart News has reported, Judge Jackson delivered a speech in 2020 in which she praised the 1619 Project, which falsely claims the American Revolution was fought to preserve slavery; and Critical Race Theory, which holds that American institutions are systemically racist. She also supported protests linked with the anti-police Black Lives Matter movement.

Asked about the 1619 Project, Judge Jackson professed not to have known it had been debunked. She also said Critical Race Theory was a mere academic theory “about the ways in which race interacts with various institutions. It doesn’t come up in my work as a judge.” She added that she did not intend to bring it into her work as a potential Supreme Court justice.

.@tedcruz grills Judge Jackson on her stance on critical race theory. pic.twitter.com/RxXV22Zr4p

— MRCTV (@mrctv) March 22, 2022

Cruz then quoted a speech Judge Jackson delivered in 2015 to students in which she said that critical race theory affected sentencing policy. Judge Jackson tried to distinguish between her work as a judge and her work on the federal sentencing commission (though as a federal judge, she would also have to apply the policies of the sentencing commission in her work).

Later, Cruz asked Judge Jackson whether she believed Critical Race Theory was being taught or should be taught in schools.

Judge Jackson said that she did not believe that critical race theory was taught in schools.

When @tedcruz points out that the school that she serves on the board of indeed teaches critical race theory, she quickly amends her position to be only about *PUBLIC* schools. pic.twitter.com/R80rcxpruV

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 22, 2022

Judge Jackson said she did not believe it was being taught.

WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 22: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) holds up a book on antiracism as he questions U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, March 22, 2022 in Washington, DC. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Joe Biden’s pick to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court, would become the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court if confirmed. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

He then presented evidence that Critical Race Theory is being used in classroom materials at the Georgetown private school at which she is a board member. In an uncomfortable exchange, Judge Jackson backtracked, saying she thought he was only referring to public schools and not private schools.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.