While Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson underwent some 23 hours of questioning by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Jackson’s response to one question in particular—or rather, her lack of response—left many scratching their heads.

During hearings on Tuesday, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) asked Jackson: “Can you provide a definition for the word ‘woman’?”

“Can I provide a definition?” the judge replied, adding, “No, I can’t.”

“You can’t?” Blackburn shot back.

“Not in this context,” Jackson said. “I’m not a biologist.”

“So you believe the meaning of the word ‘woman’ is so unclear and controversial that you can’t give me a definition?” Blackburn pressed.

“Senator, in my work as a judge, what I do is I address disputes,” Jackson deflected. “If there’s a dispute about a definition, people make arguments, and I look at the law, and I decide.”

“The fact that you can’t give me a straight answer about something as fundamental as what a woman is underscores the dangers of the kind of progressive education that we are hearing about,” Blackburn deduced.

The exchange went viral, with many conservatives pointing out the hypocrisy of the situation given that one of the primary reasons President Biden nominated Jackson to the court was because she is a woman.

In calling for Biden to withdraw his nomination of Jackson and select another nominee, Penny Nance, president and CEO of Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, pointed out that several women had been in the running for the open position on the court. 

“Let [the president] pick a woman who at least knows how to define ‘woman,’” she wrote in a press release.

“How can we trust a justice to protect women’s rights when she denies the unique dignity of women?” Nance added. “According to Judge Brown Jackson, one must be a biologist in order to do that. I’m sorry, but that doesn’t pass the straight-face test.”

Former Democratic U.S. House Rep. Tulsi Gabbard also spoke out, asserting that “in order to have a Supreme Court committed to protecting the rights of all Americans, including women, every justice needs to understand there is such a thing as a woman, as distinct from a man.” 

And Cissie Graham Lynch, senior advisor/ministry spokesperson for BGEA, lamented culture’s push toward progressive ideals.

“If our society cannot define what a ‘woman’ is, what do you think will come next?” she asked her social media followers.

Photo: Rod Lamkey/CNP /MediaPunch/Alamy