Punchbowl News: “The Judiciary Committee is set to hold a business meeting on Monday to consider Jackson’s nomination. Under committee rules, Republicans can delay a vote on Jackson’s nomination for one week. Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin has already said he will honor that GOP request. This means the committee vote on Jackson will be held April 4. That puts the Senate on schedule for a floor vote on Jackson before the chamber leaves for the Easter recess on April 8.”

“There’s likely to be a lot of drama between now and then, however.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was caught searching Twitter for mentions of his own name during Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

“Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson emerged on Wednesday from two grueling days of testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee having weathered escalating Republican attacks on her record but leaving Democrats confident that she would become the first Black woman on the Supreme Court,” the New York Times reports.

“Despite early pledges from Republican leaders that the process would be marked by decorum and respect, the hearings were a bruising affair for the Senate, no less bitter or partisan than their immediate predecessors.”

“Idaho on Wednesday became the first state to enact a law modeled after a Texas statute banning abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy and allowing it to be enforced through lawsuits to avoid constitutional court challenges,” the Idaho Press reports.

Charlie Sykes: “As we contemplate the vetting process that gives us judges who are qualified to sit on the Supreme Court, perhaps we also ought to give some thought to the vetting process we use for the kind of people who serve in the U.S. Senate.”

“Because, I regret to inform you that, once again, they are not behaving well.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson “got into a heated exchange after the senator revived a line of attack on the judge’s sentencing record in cases involving images of child sexual abuse,” the New York Times reports.

“The flashes of temper were particularly striking coming from a senator who voted less than a year ago to confirm Judge Jackson to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Mr. Graham’s aggressive questioning of Judge Jackson over the past two days — which has included rapid-fire rhetorical questions, frequent interruptions and some lengthy, fiery lectures — suggested that he was unlikely to back her for the nation’s highest court.”

“It’s Hawley, right? Take that for what it’s worth.”

— Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), quoted by the Washington Post, on the GOP attacks against Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson at her confirmation hearings.

Punchbowl News: “Senators will get a chance to question Jackson for 30 minutes during the first round that starts today, plus another 20 minutes during the second round. This questioning will last for two days, or roughly 18 to 19 hours in total. Half of that will be by Democrats, who aren’t likely to push Jackson anywhere near as hard as their GOP counterparts.”

“This means Jackson has to withstand roughly nine to 10 hours of questioning by (potentially) hostile senators over the next two days. And the reward for getting through this ordeal successfully could be a lifetime appointment to the nation’s highest court.”

USA Today has live coverage.

Roll Call: “Republican senators have a tough job this week as Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson faces questioning from the Judiciary Committee. In many ways, how the GOP side of the dais decides to treat the first Black woman ever nominated to the high court is the opening salvo of what promises to be a bruising midterm election cycle.”

“They must, all at once, be tough on a liberal federal appellate judge to placate and excite their base ahead of November’s midterm elections. But they also risk further alienating suburban white women and other swing voters who ditched them in 2020 to give Joe Biden the White House and Democrats control of both chambers of Congress.”

The Hill: Republicans to roll dice by grilling Jackson over child-pornography sentencing decisions.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) “got into a confrontation with employees of a Montana airport which grew so heated that law enforcement had to get involved, a new video showed on Sunday,” the Daily Mail reports.

“Cruz was spotted at Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport shortly after noon on Sunday, apparently irritated by missing his flight.”

Playbook: “With war raging in Ukraine and President Joe Biden headed to Brussels on Wednesday for an emergency NATO summit (more on both of these topics below), Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s four-day hearing marathon, which starts today at 11 a.m., may well be below-the-fold news. It’s not just outside events dampening the suspense: With her confirmation all but assured and the balance of the court not in play, the likelihood of major surprises is pretty low.”

“While that bodes well for Jackson’s prospects, it’s not necessarily good for the administration politically. The near-certainty of seating the first Black woman on the high court would normally be the closest thing to a slam-dunk, attention-grabbing victory the White House could ask for. No red flags have been raised about Jackson’s record that would jeopardize her prospects, and a new WSJ poll shows a majority of Americans think she is qualified for the high court.”

“But these aren’t normal times. The White House is on course to notch the win, but the media’s gaze is largely elsewhere.”

The Washington Post has a live blog covering the hearings.

Punchbowl News: “GOP Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO), Ted Cruz (T-TX) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) are all on the Judiciary Committee, and they’re all considered possible Republican presidential hopefuls in 2024. That means they’ll use this week’s confirmation hearings to try to garner national attention.”

“There won’t be any questioning of Jackson today; that begins tomorrow and will last into Wednesday.”

When Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) wields the gavel at the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, kicking off Monday, he said, “it will be one of the most important assignments I have ever had,” the Chicago Sun Times reports.

Four days of confirmation hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson begin Monday at 11am ET with opening statements from Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Dick Durbin and ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley, NPR reports.

Then “the other 20 members of the committee will also give statements, and the day will conclude with Jackson delivering her opening statement, lasting 10 minutes.”

CNN: “Like most every other nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Jackson has been participating behind closed doors in so-called ‘moot court’ sessions to prepare for her upcoming hearings.”

“Republicans are intensifying their attacks on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson after weeks of publicly reserving judgment on President Biden’s Supreme Court nominee, ahead of historic hearings on the first Black woman to be put forward as a justice,” the New York Times reports.

“This is a gathering of 100 titanic egos sitting in a little boat, and there’s hardly room for us. The person who you’re pushing overboard today may be the person who’s going to save your life tomorrow. So you quickly have to adjust your relationships.”

— Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), quoted by the Wall Street Journal, on working in the U.S. Senate.

“A federal appeals court has resuscitated a bid by journalists to make public the Justice Department’s grounds for getting a search warrant for Sen. Richard Burr’s (R-NC) phone two years ago during a since-closed criminal investigation into potential insider trading by the North Carolina Republican,” Politico reports.