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Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson Likely to Be Confirmed In Senate Vote After Procedure Moves Forward

With the assurance that all Democratic senators and three republicans will vote to confirm, Jackson will become the first Black woman on the nation’s highest court.

The final Senate confirmation vote on Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to become the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court will likely come on Thursday.

Jackson received the support of all Democrats along with three Republicans in a 53-47 vote on a procedural motion Tuesday morning. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York filed a procedural motion on her nomination which set up the Thursday vote.

President Biden selected Jackson, 51, to fill a vacancy that will be created when Justice Stephen Breyer retires in June. Jackson’s confirmation will not alter the court’s current ideological balance. The nine-member court, on which three Trump-era appointees sit, favors conservatives 6-3.

Schumer called Jackson, who served as public defender and trial judge before serving as a federal appeals court judge in Washington, “one of the most qualified and accomplished individuals ever considered by this chamber to the Supreme Court.”

The only Black member of the U.S. Senate, South Carolina’s Sen. Tim Scott said in a news release that the historic nature of Jackson’s nomination isn’t enough for his vote.  Calling Jackson the “wrong choice for the Supreme Court,” he wrote, “From leaving the door open on court packing to her multiple overturned opinions, I cannot support a nominee with her record of judicial activism.”

However, the support of Republican senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah, both of whom announced their backing on Monday, all but assured Jackson’s confirmation. Maine Sen. Susan Collins announced her support last week.

In a statement, Romney regarded Jackson as a “well-qualified jurist and a person of honor. While I do not expect to agree with every decision she may make on the Court, I believe that she more than meets the standard of excellence and integrity,” according to The Hill.

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