SCOTUS Nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson Expected to Advance to Full Senate Vote

UPDATE! On a vote of 53-47, the U.S. Senate has confirmed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. Once she takes the oath of office this summer, she will become the first Black woman to serve on America’s highest court.

Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson is expected to advance to a full Senate vote regardless of whether she has Republican support.

On Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee — comprising 11 members of each party — will vote on whether to advance Judge Jackson, who was nominated by President Joe Biden to SCOTUS in late February.

Though the Democrats on the committee are expected to unanimously vote for Jackson, Republicans in the group are expected to vote against the judge — writing in a statement during her confirmation hearings that Jackson’s record “shows regular misuse of judicial authority to impose liberal preferences instead of what the law demands.”

However, even with an 11-11 vote, Jackson’s confirmation would still advance to the full Senate, whose vote would determine if Jackson is appointed to the Supreme Court.

Though all 50 Democrats in the Senate are expected to vote for Jackson, only one Republican — Sen. Susan Collins of Maine — has said she would vote yes.

During Monday’s hearing, Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California was unable to attend the beginning of the meeting because Sen. Dick Durbin, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said there was a medical emergency on Padilla’s flight to Washington, D.C.

“I believe that Senator Padilla will be back in time this afternoon for us to consider this nomination and a record vote and the six other nominees who are pending before the committee,” Durbin told the committee, adding, “I know it troubles him, it pains him not to be here.”

While in past delays, senators would engage in paired voting — in which two senators with opposing views would agree that neither of them was going to vote — Durbin said the committee would avoid this due to the importance of the vote.

“There was a time when pairing for a vote was common; where someone, two senators with opposite positions on a vote would agree that neither one of them was going to vote, so that the outcome would not be affected,” Durbin said.

He added, “We’re in a different position because this is not a run-of-the-mill ordinary vote. This is an important one that everyone here has thought through very seriously, and we should take very seriously.”

Jackson previously worked as a public defender and served eight years as a federal trial court judge. Last June, she was confirmed for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

If confirmed to the Supreme Court, she will become the first Black woman to serve on America’s highest court.

Last month, we discussed the line of questioning at Judge Jackson’s confirmation hearing. WATCH, below: