3 GOP Senators Who Voted For Supreme Court Nominee In Past Won’t Promise To Do It Again

Topline

President Joe Biden nominated U.S. Circuit Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court Friday—paving the way for a potentially bipartisan Senate confirmation vote, though the three Republican senators who backed her confirmation to the D.C. Circuit Court last year won’t commit to voting for her this time around.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on Feb., 18 in her office at the appeals court in Washington, D.C.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Key Facts

Three Republican senators backed Jackson’s confirmation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in June 2021—Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine)—while every other Republican senator voted against her.

Those three senators are considered the most likely Republicans to vote for her Senate confirmation to the Supreme Court, though it’s still unclear whether they’ll back it.

Murkowski said Friday that her previous vote for Jackson “does not signal how I will vote for a Supreme Court justice,” and Collins said in a statement she would conduct a “thorough vetting” of Jackson’s nomination—but praised her as “an experienced federal judge with impressive academic and legal credentials.”

Graham was a vocal proponent of another contender for the nomination, U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs, and he signaled Friday he may not support Jackson again, saying her nomination over Childs “means the radical Left has won President Biden over yet again.”

Crucial Quote

“I am committed to doing my due diligence before making a final decision on this nominee,” Murkowski said Friday. “Being confirmed to the Supreme Court—the nation’s highest tribunal, and a lifetime appointment—is an incredibly high bar to achieve.”

Tangent

Jackson has earned the backing of the Democratic Party’s progressive wing, as NBC News reports 12 progressive groups wrote to Biden before her nomination asking him to name a judge who has a background as a public defender—which only Jackson has out of the top contenders for the job—and left-wing group Demand Justice hailed her nomination Friday. Every Democratic senator voted for Jackson’s confirmation last year, including moderate Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.). They have not yet committed to voting for Jackson’s Supreme Court confirmation, however, with Manchin saying Friday he “look[s]

What To Watch For

Jackson to be confirmed in what’s expected to be a swift Senate confirmation process. Senate Judiciary Committee chair Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has said he’d like to have the nominee confirmed by the time the Senate goes on its Easter recess, which is scheduled to start April 8. It’s still unclear whether Jackson will get GOP support—which she doesn’t necessarily need, since Democrats could confirm her with 50 votes plus Vice President Kamala Harris as a tiebreaker. Republicans are unlikely to try and block her nomination, however. CNN reports Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) isn’t eager for a bitter Supreme Court fight, given that Jackson’s nomination won’t change the court’s ideological makeup and the optics might be poor if they push back too hard against the court’s first Black female nominee.

Key Background

Jackson is Biden’s first Supreme Court nominee of his presidency and is aiming to fill the seat being vacated by Justice Stephen Breyer, who will retire this summer assuming Jackson has been confirmed. The judge is the first Black woman ever nominated to the Supreme Court and will become only the third Black justice in its history if confirmed. Jackson, 51, now serves on the D.C. Circuit Court after previously serving as a federal district judge in Washington, D.C. She would be the first former public defender ever named to the Supreme Court, if confirmed, and also served as vice chairman of the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Jackson’s most notable rulings on the federal bench include ordering Trump-era White House counsel Don McGahn to testify before the House Judiciary Committee in 2019—in which she declared in her decision, “Presidents are not kings.”