Ketanji Brown Jackson wins GOP vote, nearly assuring Supreme Court seat

AP | Maine Senator Susan Collins said Wednesday she will vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, giving Democrats at least one Republican vote and all but assuring that Jackson will become the first Black woman on the Supreme Court.

Collins met with Jackson a second time after 4 days of hearings last week and said Wednesday that “she possesses the experience, qualifications, and integrity to serve as an associate justice on the Supreme Court.”

“I will, therefore, vote to confirm her to this position,” Collins said.

Collins’ support gives Democrats at least a one-vote cushion in the 50-50 Senate and likely saves them from having to use US Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote to confirm US President Joe Biden’s pick. Senate Democratic leaders are pushing toward a Senate Judiciary Committee vote on the nomination Monday and a final Senate vote to confirm Jackson late next week.

Jackson, who would replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, would be the third Black justice, after Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas, and the sixth woman. She would also be the first former public defender on the court.

It is expected that all 50 Democrats will support her, though one notable moderate Democrat, Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, hasn’t yet said how she will vote.

In her statement supporting Jackson, the Maine senator said she doesn’t expect that she will always agree with Jackson’s decisions.

“That alone, however, is not disqualifying,” Collins said. “Indeed, that statement applies to all 6 justices, nominated by both Republican and Democratic presidents, whom I have voted to confirm.”

Collins said she believes the process is “broken” as it has become increasingly divided along party lines. When Collins first came to the Senate, Supreme Court confirmations were much more bipartisan. Breyer, who will step down this summer, was confirmed on an 87-9 vote in 1994.

“In my view, the role the Constitution clearly assigns to the Senate is to examine the experience, qualifications, and integrity of the nominee,” Collins said. “It is not to assess whether a nominee reflects the ideology of an individual senator or would rule exactly as an individual senator would want.”

Collins said that in her meetings with Jackson, “we discussed in depth several issues that were raised in her hearing. Sometimes I agreed with her; sometimes I did not.”

It is unclear if any other GOP senators will vote for Jackson. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell set the tone for the party last week when he said he “cannot and will not” support her, citing the GOP concerns raised in the hearing about her sentencing record and her support from liberal advocacy groups.

Jackson is still making the rounds in the Senate ahead of next week’s votes, doing customary meetings with Democratic and Republican senators. On Tuesday she met with Utah Senator Mitt Romney, who said afterward that he was undecided about supporting her.

Romney voted against Jackson last year, when she was confirmed by the Senate as a federal appeals court judge. Collins, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham were the only 3 Republicans to support her at the time.