BREAKING…
The Senate has voted to confirm President Biden’s Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, securing her place as the first black woman ever on the high court.
There wasn’t much drama around the actual vote to confirm Jackson. Three Republican senators – Susan Collins, Mitt Romney, and Lisa Murkowski – had already said they would join Democrats to vote for her, making her confirmation a forgone conclusion.
She is set to replace Justice Stephen Breyer who Democrats had asked to retire while they still control the Senate. He’ll officially step down this summer.
Jackson is the third black justice in the court’s history. And for the first time, four of the nine high court justices will be women. “Today is also a joyous celebration,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). “In the 233-year history of the Supreme Court, never, never has a black woman held the title of justice. Ketanji Brown Jackson will be the first, and I believe the first of more to come.”
During her nomination hearings, Republicans had picked apart Jackson’s record on sentencing criminals, specifically in some disturbing child pornography cases.
A group of Republican senators continued to make their case before the vote
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said, “Personally speaking she is bright, she is charming, she is talented. But her record is extreme and it suggests a three-decade-long pattern of advocating for very, very lenient sentences, for violent criminals, and in particular for sex offenders.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KS) said there would be a stark contrast between how his party reacts compared to how he said Democrats reacted after recent Republican nominees were confirmed to the court.
“Do you know what won’t happen? Top Republicans will not imply she’s illegitimate. We will not call for court-packing. I won’t be joining any mobs outside her new workplace and threatening her by name. Democrats must stop their political siege of the institution that Judge Jackson is about to join,” he said.
Kelly Shackelford, President, CEO, and Chief Counsel for First Liberty Institute said, “As a group dedicated to defending religious freedom, we are deeply concerned that Judge Jackson will not protect our nation’s first freedom. Although Judge Jackson conceded religious liberty is a ‘fundamental right,’ we remain unconvinced that she will protect that right based on her repeated refusals to specify her judicial philosophy or what she believes the free exercise of religion means.”
Democrats beat back the criticism to Jackson’s record, characterizing the attacks as distorted versions of the truth. Ultimately, they had the last word. “We are beginning to write another chapter in our nation’s quest for equal justice under the law, and that chapter begins with three letters: KBJ,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL).
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