The Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday deadlocked in an 11-11 vote on whether to advance the nomination of President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is on track to become the first black woman to serve on the high court.
Even with the vote split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, Jackson’s nomination will be brought to the full Senate. Democrats, led by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, will hold a new vote to ‘discharge’ Jackson’s nomination from committee on Monday evening and then move to the full 50-50 Senate.
Schumer, a New York Democrat, has gone on the record to say that the chamber is on track to confirm Jackson before the Senate’s planned Easter recess begins on Friday.
The vote on Monday had been delayed several hours after California Democratic Senator Alex Padilla’s flight to DC was forced to turn around due to a medical emergency onboard.
Only a majority is needed to approve a discharge motion, and with Susan Collins, a Republican Senator from Maine, already promising to back Jackson, the confirmation is likely set in stone.
While the White House hopes for more bipartisan support, between Collins and Vice President Kamala Harris’ vote, Democrats will have the majority.
During her confirmation hearing before the panel last month, Democrats expressed support for Jackson while Republicans signaled opposition. Many interrogated Jackson over her record, while others took the hearings as an opportunity to air their grievances on a list of conservative social issues.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin praised Jackson, 51, for the answers she provided during the contentious four days of confirmation hearings.
Before Monday’s vote Durbin highlighted how qualified the judge was, noting this was her fourth time before the judiciary committee for a confirmation of some sort. He also criticized Republicans for their baseless attacks on the judge.
‘During her hearing, Judge Jackson told us about her upbringing as the daughter of parents who attended racially segregated schools. She marveled at how her youth, on the heels of the civil rights movement, differed so much from own parents’ experience,’ Durbin said.
‘Hers is a uniquely American family story: how much hope and promise can be achieved in just one generation. I’m proud we can bear witness to it.’
Jackson, who would replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, would be the third black justice to join the high court after Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas. She would also be the sixth woman, and the first former public defender on the court.
Jackson previously worked as a clerk for Breyer, a federal public defender, an attorney in private practice, a federal district court judge and a member of the US Sentencing Commission.
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