By Suzanne BlakeShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberSupreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is being pressed by a Republican senator to investigate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson over her attendance at Sunday's Grammys.
Senior U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee said Jackson should be looked into, as the awards ceremony was rife with remarks opposing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), while some critics have accused Jackson of clapping during those moments.
Newsweek reached out to Jackson after normal business hours on Thursday for comment.
Why It Matters
ICE has garnered widespread backlash across the country after the killings of two American citizens in Minneapolis last month.
The topic was routinely brought up at the Grammy Awards, which Jackson attended as she had been nominated for a Grammy for her narration of the audiobook of her memoir, Lovely One.
...What To Know
While there is no proof that Jackson clapped at any of the anti-ICE comments while in attendance at the Grammys, Blackburn wrote a letter urging Roberts to look into the matter.
Blackburn is a part of the Senate Judiciary Committee and is asking for an investigation into whether Jackson violated the Supreme Court’s Code of Conduct’s rule that justices “act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.”
The code was first released in 2023 after national concern over justices receiving undisclosed gifts and travel. While all justices have now signed the code, it has rarely been enforced or implemented in a disciplinary manner.
The Supreme Court will be hearing cases concerning President Donald Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order, and anti-ICE sentiment could play a role in how the justices rule, experts say.
At the Grammys, many people wore “ICE Out” pins and several winners used time during their speech to make statements against the agency.
Blackburn is running for governor of Tennessee and urged Roberts to examine whether Jackson could operate fairly as a justice after her Grammys attendance. “Congressional Democrats and the legacy media have spent years smearing Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices as corrupt, partisan, and having engaged in conduct that violates the Court’s Code of Conduct,” Blackburn said. “These public smear campaigns orchestrated by congressional Democrats and amplified by the mainstream media were baseless and a pathetic attempt to influence the decision-making process of the Court.”
An op-ed penned by Fox News contributor and New York Post columnist Miranda Devine accused Brown of clapping alongside other audience members during the anti-ICE remarks at the Grammys. "She should have stayed home rather than laughing and clapping in the audience with a bunch of virtue-signaling luvvies ranting “F–k ICE” every time they got on stage," Devine wrote in the Post. "She has to sit in judgment on various Trump administration immigration enforcement cases. How can she be seen as impartial?"
No video evidence of Brown clapping at the ceremony has emerged.
Jackson has generally aligned herself with the two other liberal-leaning justices, but she has sided on more conservative ideals occasionally. In 2024, she agreed with her fellow conservative justices in limiting a charge against Trump tied to the January 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol.
What People Are Saying
Blackburn, in her letter: “While it is by no means unheard of or unusual for a Supreme Court justice to attend a public function, very rarely—if ever—have justices of our nation’s highest Court been present at an event at which attendees have amplified such far-left rhetoric.”
Award-winning singer-songwriter Billie Eilish, during her Grammys acceptance speech: “No one is illegal on stolen land.”
What Happens Next
The Supreme Court will be hearing the next round of oral arguments during the last week of February.
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