Washington: The historic nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first black woman on the Supreme Court went a step further on Monday.
The Senate passed a procedural vote Monday night to bring his name before the upper house for confirmation, after a stalemate by the Judiciary Committee earlier in the day. The move sets up the final confirmation vote for Jackson on the Senate floor later this week.
Previously, the 22-member Senate Judiciary Committee, which is split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, voted along party lines for an 11-11 tie, instead of offering a "favourable" or "unfavourable" recommendation.
Majority leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., may set the schedule for a full chamber vote, where Jackson is likely to be confirmed before Congress leaves for the Easter recess at the end of the week.
Last week, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Main, announced she would endorse Jackson, ensuring bipartisan support for the nomination. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-WVA, who often breaks with his party, said he would vote for the candidate.
Early Monday evening, as the Senate voted on a motion to discharge the nomination from committee after a tie vote, two more Republican senators announced they would support Jackson's nomination.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah said they would vote yes.
"After several in-depth conversations with Judge Jackson and reviewing his record and recent hearings, I will support his historic nomination," Murkowski said in a statement.
"After reviewing Judge Jackson's records and testimony, I have concluded that he is a well-qualified jurist and respected figure. Although I do not expect to agree with every decision of his on the court, I believe." That's more than he meets standards of excellence and integrity," Romney said.
As a result, Jackson is sure to be confirmed.
The Senate is divided equally between 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans. If he receives a simple majority of 51 votes, Jackson is confirmed. If the Senate stalemates 50-50, Vice President Kamala Harris (while serving as Senate President) would break the tie and give Jackson the deciding vote.
With the support of Democrats and three Republican nominations, Jackson has enough votes to be confirmed without Harris' help.
Still, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. cautioned that the fight to confirm Jackson is not done until the final vote.
"It's not over," he said last week. "Watch a basketball game recently? How many of them went to the last basket. That's what we're facing."
"Things beyond our control can change this outcome," he said. For example, if a Democratic senator tested positive for the coronavirus, and was unable to vote, the confirmation could be pushed back.
Monday's committee vote was delayed by a factor beyond the control of the Senate: the medical emergency of a passenger on Democratic Committee member Alex Padilla's flight from California to Washington on Sunday night.
The flight was reversed, and Padilla was delayed until Monday afternoon to return to Washington to vote. The committee then broke for recess until it was able to make it personally to vote in favor of Jackson. In a divided committee and a divided Senate, any external circumstance can affect the confirmation process.
"We are living in that world, a 50-50 world where every vote can make a difference in whether it is going to be confirmed or not," Durbin said.
Republicans continue to criticize Jackson
Republican committee members resurrected their attacks on Jackson before the vote.
During the trial, he called Jackson on record of sentencing defendants to child pornography cases, and as a federal public defender representing detainees at Guantanamo Bay, prisoners in Cuba to be enemy combatants in the War on Terror. charged up. At times, in acrimonious interrogation, members prompted Jackson to explain his views on controversial political issues such as court-packing, critical race theory, and transgender rights.
“His record on crime is way out of the mainstream, his record on crime peaks,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
"I've known Judge Jackson for 30 years, I've always liked him personally," said Cruz, who went to school with Jackson. Similarly, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. met his attacks on Jackson with praise for his character.
"I can definitely say that I like her, she's a nice person, but I can't support her," said Hawley, before attacking the sentence for child pornography counts.
Others on the committee expressed concern about his judicial philosophy.
"What a judge should call balls and strikes, and given what I have seen and his unwillingness to disclose his judicial philosophy and his unwillingness to deny a detailed view of unencumbered rights, I am concerned that Judge Jackson may be involved in one team or the other." I won't vote," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of only three Republicans who voted to confirm Jackson's position in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, said the Supreme Court is different, and reiterated that he would vote for his nomination. will not vote for ,
"I will not vote, the first time I have voted against any Supreme Court candidate," Graham said.
Democrats shed light on historic vote
Democrats used their time on Monday to reiterate support for Jackson and underscore the historic nature of the vote.
"This is the first time the committee has had the opportunity to pursue the nomination of a black woman to sit on the Supreme Court. This is a historic moment for the committee and for America," Durbin said.
Sen. Chris Koons, D-Del., a close aide of President Joe Biden, compared Jackson to Ruby Bridges, one of the first black students to integrate public school following the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. were one.
“So, too, I found that Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson inquired here with his head held high, with a sense of faith in our Constitution, in our democracy and in the rule of law,” Koons said.
Cory Booker, D-N.J., one of only three black senators, quoted poet Maya Angelou during Monday's session. Last month, Booker brought Jackson to tears during the hearing with an emotional speech about the importance of his nomination.
"You can try to write me down in history with your bitter, crooked lies, you can trample me in a lot of dirt, but still I rise like dust," Booker said on Monday. "Arise, Sister Jackson; Arise, Judge Jackson, all the way to the nation's highest court."