Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, United States President Joe Biden's nominee for the Supreme Court, moves closer to being confirmed to the country's highest court, which some expect to come this week after a bipartisan group of senators voted on Monday to advance the process.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called for a vote to break the deadlock resulting from the Senate Judiciary Committee voting 11-11 on Jackson's confirmation. All Democrats and three Republican senators, Susan Collins, Mitt Romney, and Lisa Murkowski, voted in support of the nominee.
Ketanji Brown Jackson's Confirmation
While Senate Republican and Democratic leaders have all agreed that Jackson was well-qualified for the position, almost all GOP lawmakers were expected to oppose her. The 51-year-old Black woman sits on D.C.'s federal appellate court and was one of the front-runners for the vacancy that will be left after Justice Stephen Breyer steps down after his term.
The Supreme Court nominee previously worked under Breyer as a clerk, a federal public defender, an attorney in private practice, a federal district court judge, and a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, as per CNN.
The tied vote on Jackson's confirmation showed how the process of the highest court in the nation has become increasingly partisan in recent years. GOP members were widely expected to all oppose the nominee's confirmation. Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, and Josh Hawley, in particular, aggressively questioned Jackson in her confirmation hearings last month, indicating their potential opposition vote.
Despite massive Republican opposition, Jackson's confirmation is all but set in stone after Collins last week expressed her plans to vote for the nominee. Senate Democrats and the White House have been vying to peel off some GOP votes for bipartisan confirmation of Jackson.
According to Business Insider, Collins is also known for voting in support of Jackson last year for her confirmation to her current seat in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The committee votes on Monday came after the nominee personally met with senators for weeks to shore up support for her confirmation.
Republican Support
The situation comes as Americans are showing large support for Jackson's nomination, with 42% in support and only 27% opposing the nominee in a recent poll. The remaining 31% were still undecided on whether to support or oppose Jackson's confirmation to the Supreme Court.
The survey included 1,618 adult participants from the United States and was conducted from Mar. 31 to Apr. 4. Prior to Biden announcing his nomination of Jackson, 57% of Republicans noted that she was qualified for the position based on the summary of her attributes and experiences.
However, the number has plummeted to 31% after two months of GOP attacks that culminated in last week's contentious confirmation hearings. Respondents were asked to assess Jackson's qualifications several weeks before her nomination.
Being a graduate of Harvard Law School, working as a former clerk to Supreme Court Justice Breyer, and being a judge on the D.C. Circuit Court garnered Jackson support from 69% of Americans, Yahoo News reported.
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