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On April 4, Democrats from the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote to advance Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Senate floor which will take place later this week. The move will bring the former vice-chair of the United States Sentencing Commission one step closer to becoming the first African American woman to sit on the Supreme Court bench.
Democrats said they were enamored by the 51-year-old’s resilience during her tough confirmation hearing, noting that her “credentials, experience, and evenhanded approach to the administration of justice make her an outstanding nominee to the Supreme Court,” according to NPR.
Republican committee members weren’t swayed by Jackson’s performance. A large majority of GOP Senators said they would not be voting in favor of the former D.C. public defender, many of whom argued that her track record showed “regular misuse of judicial authority to impose liberal preferences instead of what the law demands.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee is comprised of 11 Democrats and 11 Republicans, so even if members come to a deadlock vote, Jackson will still advance to the Supreme Court. A deadlocked vote is when opposing parties come to a split decision on a matter, prohibiting progress.
All 50 members of the Democratic caucus are expected to vote for Jackson’s confirmation, while one Republican, Rep. Susan Collins of Maine, said she would vote in honor of the judge’s historic Supreme Court seat. Collins previously shared that although she may not always agree with Jackson’s views, she believes that the star candidate “possesses the experience, qualifications, and integrity to serve as an associate justice on the Supreme Court,” AP News noted.
The last time Americans saw a deadlocked nomination was in 1991, when Justice Clarence Thomas was sworn in. Members were split on a 7-7 vote, forcing the committee “to send the nomination to the floor without a recommendation, meaning it could still be brought up for a vote,” the publication added.
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