White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said Sunday that he is confident Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has the Senate votes to be confirmed to the Supreme Court.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote Monday on Judge Jackson’s nomination to replace the retiring Justice Stephen G. Breyer. The full Senate then will consider Judge Jackson’s elevation from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to the Supreme Court.
“What I know is she will get enough votes to get confirmed, in the end I suppose that’s the only thing that matters,” Mr. Klain told ABC’s “This Week.” “But I wish more Republicans would look at the case here, look at the record, and vote to confirm Judge Jackson.”
A close vote is expected on the judge’s nomination in the Senate, which is divided 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans. The judge so far has the support of one GOP senator: Sen. Susan Collins of Maine announced last week that she would vote in favor of Judge Jackson’s confirmation.
Whether any other senators break ranks from their party over the judicial nomination remains to be determined.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, voted in favor of Judge Jackson’s confirmation to the federal appeals court last year, but has announced his opposition to her elevation to the high court.
Mr. Graham said last week that Judge Jackson had good character but her “record is overwhelming in its lack of a steady judicial philosophy.” He also said he perceived Judge Jackson’s decisions as creating outcomes contrary to what the law stipulated.
Sen. Roy Blunt, Missouri Republican, said Sunday he hoped he could support President Biden’s Supreme Court nominee, but he became worried by Judge Jackson’s judicial philosophy.
“She’s certainly qualified. I think she’s got a great personality. I think [she] will be a good colleague on the court, but the judicial philosophy seems to be not the philosophy of looking at what the law says and the Constitution says and applying that, but going through some method that allows you to try to look at the Constitution as a more flexible document,” Mr. Blunt told ABC.
Despite his opposition to her confirmation, Mr. Blunt said he anticipates the Senate will confirm the judge, and he called Judge Jackson’s elevation to the Supreme Court a “high point for the country.”
If confirmed, Judge Jackson would be the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court.
Justice Breyer is retiring after the court finishes its current term this year.
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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