The Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday voted along party lines to advance the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Senate floor after weeks of tough scrutiny.
The vote came later than expected for Democrats after Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) was held up by a delayed flight, forcing Democrats to push the vote later into the afternoon to guarantee its success in the equally-divided Judiciary Committee.
All 11 Republicans on the committee voted against the nomination and all 11 Democrats voted in favor of the nominee, depriving Democrats of a majority vote for Jackson.
Still, due to rules worked out at the beginning of the 117th Congress by Senate leadership, Jackson’s confirmation was able to pass through the committee without achieving a majority.
Jackson, who was nominated by President Joe Biden to replace outgoing Justice Stephen Breyer on the Supreme Court, has been accused of a “soft-on-crime” attitude by Republicans who have cited her fairly lenient sentencing decisions for those in possession of child porn, as well as her apparent lack of a unified judicial philosophy.
On Monday, those conflicts reopened as Republicans made a final attempt to derail Jackson’s nomination.
Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has called these GOP criticisms “demagogic,” but Republicans have emphasized that Jackson’s sentencing decisions fell well below federal sentencing guidelines in every case that she was not bound by mandatory minimum sentencing laws.
“It was unfortunate that some moments in the hearings came to that,” Durbin said on Monday.
“This action today is nothing less than making history,” Durbin added. “I’m proud to be a part of it.”
“Judge Jackson is poised now to make American history,” Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) agreed later in the hearing, expressing a common sentiment among Democrats during the final hearing.
In his opening statement, Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) accused Democrats of hypocrisy over the issue of a nominee’s judicial philosophy.
By Joseph Lord
