| Ketanji Brown Jackson told the Senate Judiciary Committee she was "saving a special moment in this introduction for my daughters." As they sat behind her, the first Black woman to be nominated to the Supreme Court told them, "I know it has not been easy as I have tried to navigate the challenges of juggling my career and motherhood. And I fully admit that I did not always get the balance right. But I hope that you have seen that with hard work, determination and love, it can be done." The comment didn't get much attention, but columnist Michele L. Norris smartly focused on it in her perceptive column on the hearings. This was no inspirational, unachievable portrayal of nominee-as-superwoman; it was nominee as Everymom — torn in multiple directions simultaneously, endlessly worrying about being up to the task. "Jackson put the spotlight on the constant fear that, as a mother, you're not getting it right," Norris writes. "She gave voice to that gnawing worry that lives inside so many of us, that if anyone looked too closely behind the veneer of an orderly life, they might see something a little more raggedy around the edges." Jackson, she adds, "chose to bring the sometimes rickety confidence of a working woman's psyche into a hearing room dominated by men who probably never figured out the schedules for snack week, music lessons or dental cleanings." Only one quibble there: sometimes rickety? Every mom knows this tug; every mom has felt its terrible pull. What a wonder to see one of us so candidly, so humanly acknowledge it on her way to the highest court in the land. The sisterhood of moms rarely says this out loud. But Ketanji Brown Jackson did. By Michele L. Norris ● Read more » | | | | The debate over trans athletes can put the values of fairness and inclusion in tension. By Megan McArdle ● Read more » |    | | | | But especially: Those in production design, film editing and all the other less glamorous categories whose awards won't be broadcast in real time. By Kate Cohen ● Read more » | | | | | The BA.2 subvariant may be more transmissible, but that doesn't mean we should reimpose covid restrictions. By Leana S. Wen ● Read more » | | | | Without access to menstrual products, incarcerated women have suffered dreadful health outcomes and sexual abuse by prison staff who use sex as a bartering tool. By Gabrielle A. Perry ● Read more » | | | | | | Ginni Thomas's overwrought texts to Trump's chief of staff raise the increasingly legitimate question of whether her political agenda influences her husband. By Karen Tumulty ● Read more » | | | | | |
Email 
