Republicans Just Made It 100% Clear They Think Simply Existing as a Black Person Is an Example of ‘Critical Race Theory’

We’re nearing the end of day two of Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings—the first day she’s had to face questions from senators—and she has had to put up with a shameful amount of Republican nonsense.

Ted Cruz, for example, spent his entire allotted time asking Jackson about so-called “critical race theory.” (As a reminder, Critical Race Theory is a contextual framework taught in law school. Republicans and Fox News personalities have appropriated the term to essentially mean “thinking critically about race,” which is also not an inherently bad thing, even at the grade school level they insist it’s happening at. Children should be allowed to learn things.) Cruz asked Jackson a number of nonsense questions like whether she believes babies are racist and if she agrees with the right’s favorite totally context-free sentiment from Martin Luther King, Jr. that we should be not be judged by the color of our skin.

Ted Cruz talked a lot about the idea of “critical race theory” but the official GOP Twitter account took things to another level when they tweeted a gif of Jackson with the acronym of her name “KBJ” being crossed out and replaced with “CRT.”

To be clear, there is literally no reason for Jackson to be associated with the idea of “CRT” other than the fact that she is Black. Senator Chris Coons, who immediately followed Cruz, asked Jackson if she has ever, in any of her hundreds of cases decided as a judge, cited critical race theory or the 1619 Project, with which Cruz and the GOP in general are equally obsessed, in her decisions. Obviously, the answer is no. So why are Republicans so fixated on asking her about these things?

You know the answer to that.

This is the sort of emotional button punching an opponent to a candidate engages in when they’ve got nothing. CRT? What does Judge Jackson have to do with that dispute. This is about the color of her skin & its beneath the dignity of an American political party.

— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) March 22, 2022

just say it. say the word you really want to say. you know you want to say it. you’ll feel better after you do

— Nathan Bernhardt (@jonbernhardt) March 22, 2022

Just say you’re racist.

— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) March 22, 2022

(image: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)