What's next in Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court confirmation process
The Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson concluded Thursday with testimony from outside witnesses both for and against her confirmation to the nation’s high court. After spending four days enduring Republican attacks on her sentencing record and experience in defending detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Jackson, 51, moves a step closer to becoming the first Black woman ever to serve on the Supreme Court.
“She managed to maintain grace and dignity throughout all of the questioning,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Thursday of President Biden’s historic nominee.
“Some of the attacks on this judge were unfair, unrelenting and beneath the dignity of the United States Senate,” Durbin said. “A lesser person might have picked up and told her family, ‘We’re leaving. This is beyond the pale.’ She didn’t. And it says an awful lot to me about her character and why the president was correct in choosing her to be the next Supreme Court justice.”
So what’s next?
The Senate Judiciary Committee will meet on Monday, likely setting up an April 4 committee vote to advance Jackson’s nomination to the full floor. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Thursday that he hopes to hold a final confirmation vote before the Senate’s expected break for Easter, which begins on April 8.
Will any Republicans vote for her?
It’s hard to say. Jackson was confirmed to her current seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last summer by the Senate in a 53-44 vote, with Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina voting in her favor.
It’s unlikely Graham will do so again, given his repeated attacks on her during this week’s hearings. Both Collins and Murkowski, who are not members of the Judiciary Committee, said Wednesday that they were still evaluating the nominee.
But Jackson doesn’t need any Republicans to vote for her to be confirmed. With the Senate evenly split, Vice President Kamala Harris — the nation’s first Black VP — would cast the tiebreaking vote.
What does the American public think?
A Gallup poll released Wednesday found that 58% of Americans say the Senate should vote in favor of Jackson as a Supreme Court justice. Only current Chief Justice John Roberts, at 59% in 2005, had a higher level of support as a nominee, Gallup said.
The new poll found 88% of Democrats, 55% of independents and 31% of Republicans saying the Senate should vote to confirm Jackson. The majority of Republicans — 55% — are opposed.
The survey was conducted before this week’s hearings.
