(FreedomBeacon.com)- Later this week, the Senate is expected to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States.
Her confirmation hearing is set to proceed for a full vote on the Senate floor after three Republicans broke rank to usher her nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
With the Judiciary Committee deadlocked by an 11-11 tie on whether to proceed Jackson’s nomination for a full Senate confirmation, Chuck Schumer, the majority leader in the Senate, called for a vote to break that tie.
All Democrats naturally voted to advance her nomination to the full Senate floor. They were joined by three Republicans who supported the move as well — Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, Utah’s Mitt Romney and Maine’s Susan Collins.
That means that Jackson’s nomination will head to the full Senate for a vote on whether she will be confirmed as the replacement to liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, who is set to retire once his successor is officially appointed.
It’s still expected that almost all Republican senators are going to oppose Jackson’s nomination. But, that won’t matter, as it only takes a majority vote to confirm a Supreme Court nominee.
All Jackson needs is for all 50 Democrats in the Senate to vote for her, and Vice President Kamala Harris could break a hypothetical 50-50 tie — if all Republicans vote against her confirmation.
Once she is confirmed, as expected, she’ll become the first federal public defender to serve on the high court. She once also served in private price, as a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
She also clerked for Breyer, and currently serves as a district judge in federal court.
On Monday, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Dick Durbin from Illinois, commented after the vote to advance Jackson’s nomination:
“Justice Jackson will bring to the Supreme Court the highest level of skill, integrity, civility and grace. This committee’s action today is nothing less than making history. I’m honored to be part of it.”
The majority of Republican senators oppose Jackson’s nomination based on her lack of judicial philosophy, her history of sentencing in some criminal cases as well as the fact that she has advocated for some clients.
Romney, Murkowki and Collins are the only three Republican senators who have publicly stated they plan to support her confirmation. In explaining her reasoning, Murkowski said:
“My support rests on Judge Jackson’s qualifications, which no one questions; her demonstrated judicial independence; her demeanor and temperament; and the important perspective she would bring to the court as a replacement for Justice Breyer.
“It also rests on my rejection of the corrosive politicization of the review process for Supreme Court nominees, which, on both sides of the aisle, is growing worse and more detached from reality by the year.”
Many Republicans such as Ted Cruz of Texas have said during her confirmation hearings that Jackson is just a pawn of the “radical left.”
If Jackson is indeed confirmed later this week, she won’t tilt the balance of power on the high court. She is replacing a liberal justice, and the court will still have six conservative justices to only three liberal ones.
