Jason Rantz: GOP has to be careful during SCOTUS confirmation since Ketanji Brown Jackson is 'super likable'

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Jason Rantz: GOP has to be careful during SCOTUS confirmation since Ketanji Brown Jackson is 'super likable'

The radio host spoke with Fox News Digital about President Biden's nominee at CPAC in Orlando.

ORLANDO, Fla. – KTTH Radio talk show host Jason Rantz offered GOP lawmakers a warning ahead of the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. 

Speaking with Fox News Digital at CPAC in Orlando, Rantz weighed in on President Biden's newly announced appointee, someone Rantz says progressives hope will "commit" to "light on crime policies," which he called a "huge problem" as crime rates plague the country. 

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Regarding Jackson's confirmation process, Rantz predicted an "interesting spectacle" on Capitol Hill as to how Republicans and Democrats treat the nominee. If confirmed, she will be the first Black woman ever on the Supreme Court.

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 28: Ketanji Brown Jackson, nominated to be a U.S. Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit, is sworn in to testify before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on pending judicial nominations on Capitol Hill, April 28, 2021 in Washington, DC. The committee is holding the hearing on pending judicial nominations. (Photo by Kevin Lamarque-Pool/Getty Images)

"Republicans can't go too light. They have to actually ask some really tough questions. At the same time, she is super likable," Rantz told Fox News Digital. "I don't know many people who will see her speak say, ‘Oh, this is someone who very clearly is very far to the left.’ There's going to be some jockeying back and forth, obviously from the soundbite, but Republicans are going to have to be really careful with this. It's not like we can assume that Joe Biden was going to get a pick to put someone on the court. And we understand it's going to be someone pretty far to the left, and she's going be prepared to make it sound like she's not too far to the left."

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Rantz recalled the 2020 confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett and how Democrats had "a little bit of a problem" with how they treated her because "she was just very nice."

"She was speaking very professionally, and there's no doubt that [Jackson] is a professional and very accomplished candidate, even though we'll probably disagree with a lot of what she said. So Republicans have to be a little bit careful," Rantz said. 

Jason Rantz is a Seattle-based talk show host on KTTH Radio (Fox News Digital)

The Seattle-based radio host added that "no matter what happens," the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee who will partake in Jackson's confirmation, even if they ask a single tough question, will be tarred by liberal critics as racist.

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"They'll just have to deal with it … And I think that this is a strategy from the Democrats that just doesn't work anymore," Rantz said. "When you call everyone racist for every single thing that they say and do, then everything is racist, and it no longer means anything. So it doesn't have the sting anymore, and I think Republicans are aware of that. And frankly, they might play into that expectation that they ask a simple question that might just be a little bit tinged with some criticism. And then they're going to get attacked and they'll make that into a strategy to push back against how far left the Democratic Party has become."

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks after President Joe Biden announced Jackson as his nominee to the Supreme Court in the Cross Hall of the White House, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022, in Washington. Vice President Kamala Harris listens at right.  (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

As to the timing of Biden's announcement of his nominee, which was made as Russian invasion of Ukraine continues dominating the news, Rantz insisted the president had to make it ahead of his State of the Union address on Tuesday. Biden had previously committed to announcing his pick to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer by the end of February.  

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"I don't think that Joe Biden and this administration expected Russia to invade Ukraine at that exact moment. And even if they did, at some point, you're going to have to release the information, you're going to have to release the name and do this press conference," Rantz said. "So it was kind of lose-lose for a nomination process. I don't think it was intentional… to try to hide any of this. I think it just so happened to be the timeline."

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