Takeaways: Spotlight on senators, too, at high court hearing

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's not just Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson who is being scrutinized. Senators are also being watched at this milestone moment considering the first Black woman for the high court.

Some senators are overcome with “joy,” as Cory Booker of New Jersey described the swell of emotion he felt over the potential to confirm a judge who would help the court look more like America.

Others, led by Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, quiz the federal judge about her views on issues of race and crime, amplifying election year grievances and a backlash over changing culture.

Jackson appeared for a third day before the Senate Judiciary Committee for grueling confirmation hearings that are providing a vivid portrait the promise, and enduring racial challenges, facing the country.

Chairman Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill, opened Wednesday lamenting that his panel had become “the testing ground for conspiracy theories and culture war theories.”

Nevertheless, he declared, “America is ready for the Supreme Court glass ceiling to finally shatter.”

Here are some takeaways from Day Three of the weeklong confirmation hearings.

IN DEFENSE OF PUBLIC DEFENDERS

Jackson is the first federal public defender to be nominated to the Supreme Court, and she related her views about the importance of the work to ensure fair trials for all Americans.

Under questions from Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, she explained that prior to the court's 1963 ruling in Gideon v. Wainwright, people who were accused of crimes but couldn't afford lawyers were not guaranteed the right to legal representation.

“The protections of the Sixth Amendment, the right to trial, includes the right to appointed counsel, so that everybody who is accused of criminal behavior now has the right to an...