Ketanji Brown Jackson and "Principled Conservativism"

A little back and forth with the editor and publisher of my leftist former local newspaper.

Yesterday, I pointed out that every Senate Democrat voted to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson despite her documented career decline as a lawyer. My friend and actual lawyer Jefferson Knight quoted Paul Mirengoff, formerly of Powerline, who detailed Jackson’s downward trajectory:

“After clerking for Justice Breyer on the Supreme Court, she joined a prestigious law firm - nothing unusual there. But after just 18 months, she left for a small practice specializing in dispute resolution. A year and a half later, she moved to a staff lawyer role at the U.S. Sentencing Commission.”

Not a typical path that recognizes the level of drive and intellect one expects for a Supreme Court Associate Justice.

Jackson’s SCOTUS seat came down to one thing: Joe Biden (or whoever was pulling the strings) promised Jim Clyburn, the powerful Democrat Representative from South Carolina, a Black female nominee if he stepped in to rescue Biden’s faltering 2020 primary campaign. Once in office, Biden fulfilled his promise and with a 50/50 Senate and Vice President Kamala Harris as the tiebreaker, Jackson’s confirmation was a done deal. Notably, three so-called Republican Senators - Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski - voted to confirm her. The trio’s votes were clearly unnecessary, serving only as a symbolic nod to their “principles.”

This ties to a broader point. I recently sparred with Don Rogers, editor and publisher of my former local paper, the Park Record, over his op-ed lamenting that Senator Mike Lee abandoned “conservative principles” to support Trump. Rogers’ politics aren’t explicit, but his dismissive take on the Trump assassination attempt - calling it a mere “nick” to the ear, despite a rally attendee’s death - hints at a left-leaning bias. He writes, “Undermining elections, attacking the rule of law, and encouraging division aren’t conservative values - they’re authoritarian tactics.”

Let’s be real. Trump questioned an election riddled with anomalies: last-minute law changes, statistically bizarre vote shifts, and a basement-dwelling candidate who somehow amassed 81 million votes - 10 million more than the most popular Democrat president in half a century. Trump didn’t incite an insurrection or act outside constitutional bounds; he responded unconventionally to an unprecedented situation. “Attacking the rule of law”? He’s adhered to court rulings, even those overstepping judicial authority. Authoritarians don’t follow court orders. After the Biden administration’s overreach, Rogers’ “authoritarian” label is laughable.

Was Rogers equally outraged when Obama berated Supreme Court justices during his State of the Union, when Schumer targeted justices during the Dobbs case, or when Pelosi tore up Trump’s speech? His rhetoric suggests he’s left of center, defining “principled” conservativism as what benefits Democrats or progressive Republicans.

Nothing amuses me more than leftists lecturing on “principled conservativism,” citing figures like Utah Governor Spencer Cox or Mitt Romney. Cox launched his gubernatorial run with a tearful apology to Utah’s LGBTQ2IA community for not “seeing” them. Romney’s Massachusetts governorship was hardly a beacon of conservative principle - more akin to liberal “country club” Republicans like Nelson Rockefeller.

When leftists praise “principled conservativism,” they’re pining for the days of a compliant, losing GOP. Trump isn’t a traditional conservative, but he’s a mercenary for conservative causes, achieving results that “principled” Republicans like Rockefeller, Bob Michel, John Boehner, Paul Ryan, or the three who backed Jackson - Romney, Murkowski, and Collins - never could.

Trump won both the Electoral College and the popular vote in 2024 because he rejects losing strategies that favor progressives. That should be the first “conservative” principle.