The Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday deadlocked on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, though parliamentary rules now allow for a full vote in the Senate on President Joe Biden’s high court pick to succeed Justice Stephen Breyer.
The 22-member committee, composed of 11 Republicans and 11 Democrats, voted along party lines for Jackson, creating a deadlock. The split means that Senate Democrats will ask the full Senate to vote on a motion to advance Jackson’s nomination from the panel, which only requires a simple majority.
GRAHAM TO OPPOSE JACKSON SUPREME COURT NOMINATION, CITING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY SENTENCING
Jackson, 51, is expected to receive the support of every member of the Senate Democratic Caucus in the evenly divided 50-50 Senate, plus the backing of Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who said last week she would vote to confirm Jackson. Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who has sided with GOP senators on certain issues, also announced his support for Jackson last month.
Several Republicans on the committee grilled Jackson last month over an apparent “pattern” of sentencing child sex offenders below the guidelines of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, issues first raised by GOP Sen. Josh Hawley in the days leading up to her hearings.
Last week, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who voted last year to confirm Jackson to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, confirmed his opposition to her confirmation to the high court, rejecting her “record of judicial activism” and “flawed sentencing methodology.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
But despite Republicans fanning criticism of Jackson on matters including religion, abortion, and her past record as a public defender, she earned praise among Democrats during the committee process and was lauded by the American Bar Association, which said none of the 250 attorneys and judges who had first-hand experience working with her “felt she showed bias in any way.”
Following Monday’s procedural vote in the committee, Jackson is likely to be confirmed to the Supreme Court when a full vote for her confirmation occurs. She would succeed Breyer’s post on the bench at the end of this Supreme Court term, in the summer.
