By Tyler Sonderholzer
The United States Senate confirmed District of Columbia (D.C.) Circuit Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace Justice Stephen Breyer in a 53-47 vote with all Democrats plus three Republicans, Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and Mitt Romney of Utah, voting in favor of confirmation on April 7.
Jackson is the first black woman to be nominated to the Supreme Court and fulfills President Biden’s promise on the campaign trail to nominate a black woman if a vacancy occurred.
Jackson has been serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit since June 2021 after being confirmed by the Senate in a 53-44 vote with three Republicans, Collins, Murkowski and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina joining all Democrats. Graham was the only Republican senator who voted to confirm Jackson to the Court of Appeals and against her confirmation to the Supreme Court.
Before her confirmation, Jackson was subject to four days of questioning in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee where senators questioned her on subjects such as court cases, her background and potential recusals. After the hearing, the committee held a vote of recommendation, meaning moving the nomination from the committee to the Senate, where the nomination would then be debated and later voted on by the full senate.
Following four days of questioning and Republican members of the committee delaying the recommendation vote of Jackson’s nomination to the full Senate by a week, the committee voted in an 11-11 deadlocked vote to move the nomination on April 4. Even though Democrats hold the Senate majority because of the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris, both Republicans and Democrats have an equal number of senators on the committee due to the 50-50 split senate.
The deadlocked vote meant that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had to motion to discharge the nomination from the committee to the full Senate in order for the chamber to consider, meaning debate and vote, on the nomination. The motion passed with a 53-47 vote, Romney, Collins and Murkowski joining all Democrats in voting in favor of Jackson’s confirmation which set the final vote for April 7.
Now that Jackson is confirmed, she will replace Breyer who is retiring at the end of the Supreme Court term, which is set for late June or early July. Even though the court has a 6-3 conservative majority, Jackson’s confirmation will ensure that liberals will have some presence on the Supreme Court in an increasingly politically polarized nation.
