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I have never been a fan of Marsha Blackburn. However, in yesterday's KBJ's confirmation hearing, Blackburn hit on a critical philosophical issue in her questioning on Tuesday.
As the confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson went into hour 13, Sen. Marsha Blackburn asked the Supreme Court nominee on Tuesday to define the word “woman.”
“I can’t — ” Jackson replied.
“You can’t?” Blackburn said.
“Not in this context. I’m not a biologist,” Jackson said.
“The meaning of the word woman is so unclear and controversial that you can’t give me a definition?” Blackburn asked.
The Tennessee Republican’s line of questioning hit on nearly every political hot-button issue, from critical race theory to teaching children about gender identity in schools to Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer on the University of Pennsylvania’s women’s team.
“The fact that you can’t give me a straight answer about something as fundamental as what a woman is underscores the dangers of the kind of progressive education that we are hearing about,” Blackburn said, before turning to Thomas, who has been at the center of the debate over policies for transgender athletes.
Right on, Marsha.
It seems likely to me that the question of gender identity, i.e., "can you define word, 'woman'" will become, in the next generation, our generation's equivalent of, "is a black man human?" As much as I've considered Marsha Blackburn to be brainless, she nailed it yesterday.
If a nominee to the Supreme Court can't demonstrate the ability to think seriously about this question, that person isn't qualified to sit on the Supreme Court.
