Ted Cruz slammed for grilling Ketanji Brown Jackson about critical race theory

Ted Cruz faced criticism online for interrogating Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson about critical race theory. 

The Texas Republican senator pushed Jackson to answer a variety of questions related to critical race theory and how it originated at their mutual alma mater Harvard Law School.

Cruz asked Jackson during the first full day of questioning what she thought of the previously obscure academic and legal framework that conservatives have pushed as Marxist indoctrination of America’s children, and have successfully banned in several states, including Texas.

“Senator, my understanding is that critical race theory is – it is an academic theory that is about the ways in which race interacts with various institutions,” she said. “It doesn’t come up in my work as a judge. It’s never something that I’ve studied or relied on and it wouldn’t be something I’ve studied or relied on if I was on the Supreme Court.”

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Cruz, in a recent e-book, argued that CRT concepts have “infiltrated our education system” and coached conservatives on how to “defeat it.”

Cruz presented a stack of books that he claimed are taught in Georgetown Day School, a K-12 school in Washington, DC, where Jackson is on the board of trustees.

Some of the books he shared were titled “How to be an Antiracist” and “Antiracist Baby,” both by author Ibram X. Kendi.

“It is filled and overflowing with critical race theory,” Cruz said. “Do you agree with this book that is being taught with kids that babies are racist?”

Jackson responded saying she doesn’t believe “any child should be made to feel as though they are racist, or though they are not valued, or though they are less than, that they are victims, that they are oppressors.”

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Twitter users slammed Cruz for his statements.

“Oh man, after Ted Cruz’s questions in this hearing, I’m very worried that Nikole Hannah-Jones is not getting confirmed to the Supreme Court,” wrote journalist Ian Millhiser.

“You’ll be shocked to hear that Ted Cruz’s line of questioning today is pretty odious,” MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan tweeted.

The Republican National Committee on Tuesday also took a shot at Jackson tying her to critical race theory. The committee posted a GIF depicting Jackson with her initials “KBJ” being crossed out and replaced with the initials “CRT,” meaning critical race theory.

The committee was also criticized for the post, with many labelling it as “racist.”

“Critical Race Theory is being used as a slur against Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson,” Kentucky’s Charles Booker wrote on Twitter. “For some politicians, it’s the new way to say the N-word. It’s not right, and this Senate confirmation is too important. The American people deserve better.”

Jackson’s confirmation will make her the first Black woman to serve on the high court in its 233-year history. On Monday, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle celebrated her historic nomination.