Republicans Help Democrats Confirm Biden Supreme Court Nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson

By Dr. Derek Ellerman

President Joe Biden’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson, will become the newest Justice of the Supreme Court – thanks to a little help from some Republican friends. 

Jackson will be the first black woman to sit on the court, fulfilling a promise by Biden to only consider black women for the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer. 

President Biden congratulated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in the White House as the Senate voted on Thursday to confirm her to the Supreme Court. She was confirmed on a 53-47 vote, with three Republicans joining all 50 Democrats in backing her. https://t.co/AZRjG7s3OO pic.twitter.com/FlUUybHyxG

— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 7, 2022

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Republicans Raise Jackson To Lifetime Appointment By 53-47 Vote

As had been expected, the three Republicans who made Jackson’s confirmation possible had previously noted their support for her nomination. 

Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, and Susan Collins voted in favor. 

Before the vote, Romney said of Jackson, “After reviewing Judge Jackson’s record and testimony, I have concluded that she is a well-qualified jurist and a person of honor. While I do not expect to agree with every decision she may make on the Court, I believe that she more than meets the standard of excellence and integrity.”

All 47 ‘no’ votes came from Republican senators. 

Before the vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said:

“This is one of the great moments of American history. Today we are taking a giant, bold and important step on the well-trodden path to fulfilling our country’s founding promise. This is a great moment for Judge Jackson but it is an even greater moment for America as we rise to a more perfect union.”

President Biden was elated at the victory:

Judge Jackson’s confirmation was a historic moment for our nation. We’ve taken another step toward making our highest court reflect the diversity of America. She will be an incredible Justice, and I was honored to share this moment with her. pic.twitter.com/K8SAh25NL5

— President Biden (@POTUS) April 7, 2022

The Supreme Court will still have a nominal “conservative” majority of 6-3, as outgoing Justice Breyer was seen as a liberal. 

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Jackson’s Judicial Record Alarming

Jackson’s confirmation hearings brought to light a record that disturbed many Republican senators, particularly her record of leniency towards child pornography offenders. 

The hearings also brought ludicrous claims from figures on the left. 

CNN correspondent John Harwood insinuated that asking questions about Jackson’s child pornography record put her life in danger. 

on ambitious GOP senators “playing to the base” w/KBJ:

-conservative Nat’l Review calls their attacks “meritless”

-they know a disturbed man fantasizing about Dems and child sex trafficking fired an assault rifle in DC pizzeria in 2016

political fun-and-games can get dangerous

— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) March 24, 2022

Over at MSNBC, Al Sharpton insinuated that questioning the record of someone who will get a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land was somehow racially motivated, saying: 

“But as I sat there in the Rose Garden, I also thought about not far from the White House, we saw just last week a black woman being questioned about race as she is now nominated to be the first black woman on the Supreme Court.

“So when you look at the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee that are still raising the same kind of bogus questions, it says that, yes, we have come a long way, but we’ve got a long way to go.”

As to her record, Real Clear Investigations writes:

When she was getting her law degree at Harvard, Jackson wrote a brief in the Harvard Law Review arguing that the judicial system was unfair to people who sexually prey on children, because it sentences them to monitoring and treatment after prison, which she viewed as additional “punishment” masquerading as prevention.

Further:

Later, as a D.C. judge, Jackson under-sentenced defendants in every single child porn case in which she had discretion to mete out punishment, court records show, even though some were caught with thousands of illegal images and videos of minors and one was busted with images of naked toddlers tortured by adults in sadomasochistic acts.

That in-depth look at her record can be read in its entirety here.

At 51 years of age, Jackson should serve on the court for at least a few decades.