Days 2 & 3 Recap: Corey Booker and 'The Clowns' were stand outs in the marathon hearing of Judge KBJ

There were poignant, painful and proud moments that came out of days 2 and 3 of the senate confirmation hearing of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, known on social media as KBJ. Senators on the Judiciary Committee addressed topics ranging from rulings on child pornography, to her defense of a terrorists, to what she takes into consideration when making judgments. Because the questioning went on for 11 hours one day and 13 on another, The Slice has pulled out some contentious moments with committee Republicans from the combined 2 days to recap:

Over both days, Republicans Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) were transfixed on the Supreme Court nominee's past sentencing practices and thoughts around punishing porn offenders, both disregarding time limits while yelling at the SCOTUS hopeful to answer questions when they would not let her get a word in edgewise. Graham, on Tuesday stormed out of the proceedings having asked Jackson to rate her level of religiousness on a scale from 1 to 10. She responded that she is a non-denominational protestant, but was uncomfortable getting into her religious views.

Graham and Cruz are the leaders of a gang of senators including Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Josh Hawley of Missouri who seemed to have a predilection to turn the proceeding into a circus by hurling harsh assessments of her character. But Jackson's dignified demeanor penetrated through their accusatory antics.

She spoke of understanding she is one generation removed from segregation and recognized the weight of the sacrifices of African Americans that enabled her to be there.

Graham voted for Jackson previously, but seems unlikely to do so again as he disagrees with her record on sentencing porn offenders. He spent time set aside to assess her, asking her how she felt about the South Carolina judge, Michelle Childs, whom he nominated being criticized by Democrats. She refused to engage in the insulting effort.

Judge Jackson is in the unique position of being nominated to become the first Black woman on the high court. With the 50-50 spilt in the Senate the SCOTUS candidate should be confirmed as Justice Jackson as long as all Democrats vote favorably. This means that all Republicans could vote against her and she would get the seat with the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris.

Blackburn on Tuesday asked Jackson to define "woman." She told her she was not a biologist and needed context for the question.

Cruz, who attended Harvard College with Jackson, yelled at her and repeatedly cut her off when she attempted to respond to his questions on Wednesday after shrouding the truth about her knowingly accepting CRT in the curriculum of a private school where she sits on the board. Refuting his claims, she explained that she was not involved in making decision about the school's curriculum adding,

He also followed up on Blackburn's question, asking how the judge could rule on cases involving gender biases if she could not define what a woman is. She replied that she knew that she, Blackburn and her mother were all women.

Hawley appeared insinged as he grilled her on sentencing in porn cases. He accused her of letting offenders off the hook in a tweet. Judge Jackson told Hawley she followed sentencing guidelines that were established by Congress. In a fact check by Axios it was determined that "Hawley’s broad allegation is false. His most substantive claim against Jackson is that as a judge she frequently did not follow the federal sentencing guidelines when sentencing child pornography offenders. But, as Ohio State law professor and sentencing policy expert Douglas Berman writes, “the federal sentencing guidelines for” child pornography offenders “are widely recognized as dysfunctional and unduly severe.”

Presiding senator Dick Durbin came to the judge's defense unsderstanding that she was under direct attack rather than general scrutiny that goes with the territory in the crucial process.

"Some of the attacks on this judge were unfair, unrelenting and beneath the dignity of the United States Senate," Judiciary committee chair said. "You can disagree with a senator's vote, you can disagree with a judge's rulings, but to draw conclusions that really reflect on them personally and their values and take it to an extreme is unfair whether the nominee is a Democrat or a Republican. I was so saddened by that and it happened over and over and over again."

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker called the U.S. Supreme Court hopeful his "north Star" (a reference to Harriet Tubman leading slaves to freedom) and launched a soliloquy about love for America that brought her to tears. He gave an assist in a 20 minute speech that pronounced the gravitas of the occasion.

“You faced insults here that were shocking to me,” Booker said, unable to hold back his personal pride in the nominee. He said he would not let anyone steal his joy over her selection by Pres. Joe Biden to be a SCOTUS and that when she is confirmed he would rejoice.

“Republicans are “gonna accuse you of this and that. But don’t worry, my sister. Don’t worry. God has got you. And how do I know that? Because you’re here, and I know what it’s taken for you to sit in that seat.”

The full Senate will vote on the confirmation on April 4.