Senate advances Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination to set up historic confirmation this week
Ketanji Brown Jackson is just days away from becoming the first Black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Senate voted 53-47 Monday evening to discharge Jackson’s nomination from the Senate Judiciary Committee. A federal appeals judge who grew up in Miami, Jackson is on track to be confirmed to succeed retiring Justice Stephen Breyer on the nation’s high court by the end of the week following Monday’s procedural vote.
Upon the final vote, Jackson will become the 116th person to serve on the Supreme Court since its founding in 1789. She will make history in multiple ways as the first Black woman, first Floridian and first public defender on the court.
A final vote to confirm her to the court could take place as early as Thursday. The discharge vote was necessary after the Senate Judiciary Committee deadlocked on her nomination earlier in the day.
Both senators from her home state, Florida Republicans Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, opposed moving Jackson’s nomination forward Monday.
“Judge Jackson’s story is inspiring, but we have serious disagreements on the Constitution and the proper role of the Supreme Court,” Rubio said in a statement following the vote. “I do not support nominees who believe the job of the Supreme Court is to make policy rather than apply the Constitution as written.”
But President Joe Biden’s historic nominee attracted support from three other Republicans — Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah. Jackson requires 51 votes for confirmation, which she’ll easily achieve with all 50 Democrats and the trio of Republicans. The White House has repeatedly stressed its desire for bipartisan support.
“After reviewing Judge Jackson’s record and testimony, I have concluded that she is a well-qualified jurist and a person of honor,” Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee for president, said in a statement Monday evening. Romney had opposed Jackson’s confirmation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit just a year ago.
Murkowski told reporters that she was hopeful that Jackson’s historic confirmation will help increase public confidence in the court.
“People look at the court and they think they don’t know me, they don’t know my problems, they don’t know what it means to be to be an African-American man or woman. ... If people can look at the makeup in the court and realize that it looks a little bit more like our society, maybe, maybe there is, again, greater confidence,” she said.
During her confirmation hearings last month, Jackson reflected on how her parents attended segregated schools in Miami. The judge, on the other hand, was part of a diverse student community at Miami Palmetto Senior High School, where she excelled on the debate team and graduated in 1988 before attending Harvard University.
Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois referenced her testimony Monday as he reflected on the significance of Jackson’s nomination.
“Judge Jackson told us about her upbringing as the daughter of parents who attended racially segregated schools. She marveled at how her youth on the heels of the Civil Rights Movement differed so much from her own parents’ experience. Hers is a uniquely American family story, how much hope and promise can be achieved in just one generation,” Durbin, the Judiciary chairman, said. “I’m proud we can bear witness to it.”
Jackson’s treatment by the Judiciary Committee
Durbin’s committee deadlocked on Jackson’s nomination Monday afternoon, but the tie vote represented only a symbolic hurdle in her journey to the nation’s high court. Democrats resolved the issue hours later by passing a motion to discharge her nomination.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, the Senate Banking chair, noted that last month his committee similarly deadlocked along party lines on Lisa Cook, one of President Joe Biden’s nominees for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, who is also Black.
“I’ve seen a pattern on how they vote on Black women,” Brown said. “...Draw the conclusion you want.”
Republicans have repeatedly balked at accusations of sexism and racism throughout Jackson’s confirmation process.
“Our Democratic colleagues and their cheerleaders in the corporate media have repeatedly tried to suggest that any opposition to Judge Jackson’s nomination is rooted in racism or sexism. There’s some irony in that because all of the Democrats on this committee were only so happy to vote against the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett without facing any concerns about the sexism they were facing,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, referring to the 2020 votes on then-President Donald Trump’s nominee.
The narrow vote margins Monday reflect the contentious tone of Jackson’s confirmation hearings, when Republicans largely focused on Jackson’s sentencing decisions in seven child pornography cases.
Durbin chastised Republicans for interrupting the judge and accused them of misrepresenting her record. Minutes later, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., defended his aggressive style of questioning.
“If I left it up to her, I’d have gotten one answer in 30 minutes. So I don’t know how you question witnesses, I interrupt when I think they’re being evasive,” Graham said.
Graham was one of three Republicans who had supported Jackson’s confirmation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit last year, but he joined the rest of the committee’s Republicans in opposing her confirmation.
Graham highlighted her sentencing decisions as a federal trial court judge in child pornography cases, criticizing Jackson for not employing sentencing enhancements for offenders who used the internet rather than traditional mail.
“Every time you hit a button downloading a image of a child being sexually abused, I want you to go to jail longer,” Graham said. “Because every time you hit a button, you’re destroying a life.”
Other Republicans on the committee similarly highlighted these cases and accused Jackson of leniency. Democrats countered that Republican-appointed judges, including ones supported by GOP lawmakers on the committee, had handed down similar sentences.
In the judge’s hometown of Miami, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a fellow Miami Palmetto graduate, held an event Monday in support of Jackson’s confirmation outside of their shared alma mater.
“As we make history in our nation, having the first Black woman to be on the U.S. Supreme Court is exciting. And to know that we share a similar past, it’s just an honor to be able to support her,” said Fried, a Democratic candidate for Florida governor.
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., the only Black senator on the committee, said in the wake of the hearings he has heard from Black women and others who had undergone similar treatment to what Jackson faced during the confirmation process.
“I am hearing from people, not just Black women but particularly Black women, who have been relating to me their stories about having to come into a room where you’re more qualified than the people who are sitting in judgment of you and having to endure the absurdities of disrespect that we saw Judge Jackson endure,” Booker said.
He rattled off Jackson’s qualifications — two degrees from Harvard, clerking at every level of the federal judiciary and three past bipartisan confirmation votes by the Senate — and questioned why these credentials were not enough for half of his colleagues. He then recited Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise” to the committee.
“Rise, sister Jackson, Judge Jackson, all the way to the highest court in the land,” Booker said. “And when we have that final vote, I will rejoice. Ancestors will rejoice and we will say, Lord, this is a day that you have made.”
McClatchy’s Francesca Chambers, Alex Roarty and the Miami Herald’s Bianca Padró Ocasio contributed reporting.
This story was originally published April 4, 2022 at 1:28 PM with the headline "Senate advances Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination to set up historic confirmation this week."
