The voted 53-47 on Thursday to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, with three Republicans voting with all .
Jackson, a 51 year-old federal appeals court judge, will be the first black woman on the high court and the third black justice.
Her confirmation vote was not nearly as bipartisan as that of the justice she’d been chosen to replace, Stephen Breyer, and others. But still, President Biden can tout a bipartisan win thanks to yes votes from Sens.
Mitt Romney, Utah, xhamster Susan Collins, Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, Alaska.
Vice President presided over the Senate and banged the gavel to declare the final vote count and seal Jackson’s confirmation, as Democrats throughout the Senate chamber broke out in raucous applause.
President Biden watched the vote tally come in with Jackson in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.Photos showed them holding hands and excitedly hugging as enough votes came in to confirm Jackson’s nomination.
Breyer, 83, had come under intense pressure from progressives to retire while Democrats still hold the White House, House and Senate and let someone younger step in.
Jackson joins two other Democrat-appointed justices, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, on the 6-3 conservative-dominated court.She will be sworn in during the summer recess, when Breyer officially steps down.
President Biden watched the vote tally come in with Jackson in the Roosevelt Room of the White House
Biden had promised to put a black woman on the Supreme Court.Jackson will now be the first black woman to sit on the high court
After 99 senators had voted, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., held up the vote when he was nowhere to be found on the Senate floor.After about 30 minutes he finally showed up to cast his ‘no’ vote. Paul, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., had to cast their ‘no’ vote from the cloakroom because they did not wear a tie. Senate dress code requirements require a jacket and tie for men.
Seated in the front row of the VIP gallery was Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff.Members of the White House ‘sherpa’ team were also in the gallery, along with Democratic commentator Donna Brazille and at least 17 members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
President Biden’s designated sherpa, former Alabama Democrat Sen. Doug Jones, was standing in the back of the chamber.The sherpa guides a Supreme Court nominee through the interviews and hearings that make up the confirmation process.
Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee aggressively interrogated Jackson over her sentencing record, arguing that Jackson had offered lenient sentences, particularly to child porn offenders.Some went after her record defending Guantanamo Bay detainees as a public defender, at which time she called President George W. Bush a ‘war criminal.’
Other Republicans cited her refusal to offer a judicial philosophy and her refusal to weigh in on issues like court packing and the definition of a ‘woman’ as reason to vote no.
Biden and Jackson excitedly hugged as the vote tally came in to confirm his nominee to the high court
Biden took a break from watching the Senate confirm his nominee’s position on the bench to take a selfie
The President then posted the result of the selfie on Twitter and called her confirmation a ‘historic’ day for the U.S.
Harris told reporters after the vote: ‘I’m overjoyed, deeply moved.You know, there’s so much about what’s happening in the world now that is presenting some of the worst of this moment and human behaviors. And then we have a moment like this that I think reminds us that there is still so much yet to accomplish and that we can accomplish, including a day like today that is so historic and so important, for so many reasons.’
‘I do believe is a very important statement about who we are as a nation, that we have just made a decision to put this extraordinary jurist on the highest court of our land.It’s a good statement about who we are.’
Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., praised Jackson ahead of the vote and touted that she would be the first justice with experience as a public defender.
‘As I’ve said over and over again, there are three words that I think best fit Judge Jackson: brilliant, beloved, belongs.’ He called Jackson ‘one of the most experienced individuals ever nominated to the Supreme Court.’
‘There is no question: The country, by and large, wants the Senate to confirm Judge Jackson.’
Harris, who presided over the vote, told reporters: ‘I’m overjoyed, deeply moved.You know, there’s so much about what’s happening in the world now that is presenting some of the worst of this moment and human behaviors’
Democrats broke out into raucous applause after Jackson was confirmed.Sen. Mitt Romney is seen above applauding alone on the Republican side – he was one of only three GOP senators to vote for Jackson’s confirmation
Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., praised Jackson ahead of the vote and touted that she would be the first justice with experience as a public defender
GOP leader Mitch McConnell said that Biden had set out to nominate a ‘judicial activist’ and Jackson checked off that box.
‘Today the far left will get the Supreme Court justice they want,’ the Kentucky Republican said on the Senate floor.’As a violent crime wave sweeps America, Democrats are pursuing a nationwide campaign to make the justice system softer on crime.’
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in a press conference ahead of the vote said he believed Jackson would be ‘the furthest left justice to have ever served on the Supreme Court.Cruz and Jackson were schoolmates at Harvard Law.
‘There is no area of law where her record is more extreme than in criminal law,’ Cruz added.
Jackson throughout the hearing repeatedly reiterated that she would rule with impartiality and would not ‘legislate from the bench’ as some have predicted.