Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney announced Monday that they'll cast yes votes on Ketanji Brown Jackson's nomination for Supreme Court justice, giving her enough for confirmation. Another Republican, Sen. Susan Collins, already had committed to voting to confirm. Those three votes give Jackson at least 51, the Washington Post reports. A couple of Democrats haven't announced their intentions, so she could well end up with more than the minimum. Later Monday, the nomination went to the full Senate from the Judiciary Committee, despite its 11-11 deadlock. The preliminary vote in the Senate was 53-47.
Murkowski praised Jackson's experience and "demonstrated judicial independence" in a statement. The Alaska senator added that her decision "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." In his statement, Romney, of Utah, said he doesn't expect to agree with all of Jackson's decisions but called the federal judge a "well-qualified jurist and a person of honor."
The nomination is on track to be approved by the end of the week, the Democrats' goal. Though Murkowski said "no one questions" Jackson's qualifications, per CNN, Republicans in the committee did not budge Monday in their opposition. Democratic members had been trying to build bipartisan support. "I thought that Judge Jackson was going to be the messenger of good news that the Senate Judiciary Committee was changing," Democratic Chairman Dick Durbin said. "Unfortunately, it didn’t happen." (More Ketanji Brown Jackson stories.)
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