Carolyn Kaster/AP
GOP Senator Susan Collins said she'll vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the US Supreme Court, becoming the first Republican senator to support President Joe Biden's nominee to the high court.
"I have decided to support the confirmation of Judge Jackson to be a member of the Supreme Court," Collins told The New York Times after meeting with Jackson a second time on Tuesday. Collins' move ensures that Jackson will get bipartisan support to serve on the Supreme Court.
The Maine Republican, a critical swing vote on Supreme Court confirmations in recent years, praised Jackson's "sterling academic and professional qualifications" in a statement, and said she was confident that Jackson would not be "bending the law to meet a personal preference."
Biden nominated Jackson, a federal judge on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer. If confirmed, Jackson will be the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
Collins also appeared to chide her Republican colleagues' behavior during Jackson's at-times contentious confirmation hearings, saying "anyone who has watched several of the last Supreme Court confirmation hearings would reach the conclusion that the process is broken."
Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee including Sens. Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, and Josh Hawley, rehashed grievances over Justice Brett Kavanaugh's 2018 hearings, sought to tie Jackson to critical race theory and liberal ideologies, and misrepresented her record to paint her as soft on crime, particularly with regard to child sexual exploitation cases.
"In recent years, senators on both sides of the aisle have gotten away from what I perceive to be the appropriate process for evaluating judicial nominees," Collins said. "In my view, the role under the Constitution assigned to the Senate is to look at the credentials, experience and qualifications of the nominee. It is not to assess whether a nominee reflects the individual ideology of a senator or would vote exactly as an individual senator would want."
Two other Republicans who could vote to confirm Jackson are Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, another swing vote on recent Supreme Court confirmations, and Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, who also met with Jackson on Tuesday and said he is still reviewing her record and remains undecided on how he will vote.
In 2018, Collins voted to confirm Kavanaugh after a bruising confirmation battle where he was accused on sexual assault, while Murkowski voted "present" on Kavanaugh's confirmation.
And in 2020, the two split on confirming Justice Amy Coney Barrett to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg just days before the 2020 presidential election. Both Collins and Murkowski voted against ending debate on Barrett's nomination, but Murkowski voted in favor of confirming Barrett despite disagreeing with how her confirmation was rushed. Collins voted against Barrett's confirmation, citing the proximity to the election.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on Jackson's nomination on Monday, putting her nomination on track for a vote in the full Senate before the chamber goes on Easter recess.
