The Senate confirms Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court
The Senate has voted 53 to 47 to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as the 116th Supreme Court justice. When sworn in this summer, Jackson will be the first Black woman to serve on the nation’s high court.
“This is one of the great moments of American history,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said before the vote. “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 called the vote a “historic moment” for the nation.
“We’ve taken another step toward making our highest court reflect the diversity of America,” Biden posted on Twitter with an image of him taking a selfie with Jackson.
All 50 Senate Democrats, including the two independents who caucus with them, voted for Jackson’s confirmation. They were joined by three Republicans: Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
Vice President Kamala Harris took the gavel in her role as head of the Senate to preside over the vote. Leaving the Senate after the vote, Harris said she was “overjoyed.”
“I am feeling a deep sense of pride in who we are as a nation, that we just did what we did as it relates to the highest court of our land,” she told reporters.
On Friday, Biden, Harris and Jackson will deliver remarks on the historic Senate vote at 12:15 p.m. ET at the White House.
On Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee reached an 11-11 tie along party lines on the question of whether to advance Jackson’s nomination to a vote before the full Senate. Democrats, expecting the deadlock, immediately moved ahead with a procedural step to discharge the nomination to a vote before the full Senate.
During her hearing before the Senate Judiciary committee, Republicans attacked Jackson as a partisan and leaned heavily on culture war fights rather than inquiries concerning the nominee’s qualifications.