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The Senate Judiciary Committee will take the first step toward confirming President Biden’s nominee for the Supreme Court on Monday and elevating the first Black woman to the high court.
The committee will convene at 10 a.m. ET Monday for an executive business meeting to vote on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
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All 11 Democrats on the committee are expected to vote in her favor, and the 11 Republicans are likely to vote against her nomination. The one GOP senator on the committee who voted for Jackson previously for a lower court – Lindsey Graham of South Carolina – already said he’d oppose her elevation to the Supreme Court based, in part, on her sentences for child pornography offenders he’s deemed too lenient.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, waits to speak to reporters following bipartisan passage of the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 10, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
“I oppose and will vote against the nomination of Judge Jackson to the Supreme Court,” Graham said Thursday. “My decision is based upon her record of judicial activism, flawed sentencing methodology regarding child pornography cases and a belief that Judge Jackson will not be deterred by the plain meaning of the law when it comes to liberal causes.”
If the Judiciary Committee splits 11-11 along party lines, it will not have favorably recommended Jackson, as a committee vote needs a majority to succeed.
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However, under the evenly-split Senate’s power-sharing agreement, there is a tool called a discharge motion Democrats can use to allow the full Senate to vote despite a tie in committee. That motion, which Democrats could make as soon as Monday after the committee vote, would eat away about four hours of floor debate.
Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson arrives for her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington March 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
The full Senate could vote on the motion to discharge Jackson’s nomination from the Judiciary Committee sometime after 5:30 p.m. ET Monday.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., expressed optimism the full Senate will have a final confirmation vote on Jackson before the Senate’s Easter recess begins the week of April 11.
“The Senate is on track to have Judge Jackson confirmed as Justice Jackson by the end of this work period,” Schumer said March 24.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington Jan. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Schumer said Jackson’s “excellent” testimony before the committee “has erased any doubt that she is brilliant, she is beloved, and she belongs — unquestionably belongs — on the United States Supreme Court.”
A final vote floor vote could take place as early as Thursday.
No Democrats have announced they’ll vote against Jackson, whereas at least one Republican — Sen. Susan Collins of Maine — has said she’ll vote in favor of Jackson, giving the White House at least some level of bipartisan support.
Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson meets with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, on Capitol Hill in Washington March 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
“After reviewing Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s extensive record, watching much of her hearing testimony and meeting with her twice in person, I have concluded that she possesses the experience, qualifications and integrity to serve as an associate justice on the Supreme Court,” Collins said in a statement on March 30. “I will, therefore, vote to confirm her to this position.”
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If confirmed, Jackson will make history, fulfilling Biden’s campaign promise to appoint the first Black woman to the Supreme Court.
She’d succeed Justice Stephen Breyer once he retires from the bench at the end of the court’s 2021-22 term, which could be late June or early July.
The ideological makeup of the court will remain the same with a 6-3 split in favor of justices appointed by Republican presidents.