Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Monday that hes very concerned Republicans will unleash ugly attacks on Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson s character or her identity as a Black woman.

Speaking with reporters on Capitol Hill, Durbin gave two reasons hes worried.

First, he said, is that hes seen the way some GOP members of the committee have treated other Black, female nominees who have come before the panel. He said theres been a theme to Republicans questioning these nominees temperament to be a judge.

I listened to the questions from some of my colleagues and it doesnt reflect well on their temperament, Durbin said. I think there is an opportunity to be direct and pointed without being confrontational and disrespectful.

Its not the first time Durbin has accused some Republicans of treating President Joe Biden s Black, female court picks worse than others. In late January, he told reporters that some of Bidens judicial nominees had become more controversial than I anticipated.

When HuffPost asked if there has been a pattern to those nominees, Durbin said flatly, Assertive women of color.

The Democratic senator said Monday that hes also concerned unfairly harsh GOP attacks on Jackson could lead to dangerous threats against her. Without naming names, Durbin said there was another Black, female nominee before his committee recently who he thought was excellent, a judge herself, and whom Republicans were particularly aggressively questioning.

One or more of the senators on the other side decided to put on Twitter some statements about their testimony, Durbin said. There were threats on her family after that.