The Senate voted 53-47 to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court on Thursday.
Jackson was nominated by President Biden after Justice Stephen Breyer announced in February that he will retire by summer. Jackson will join Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor in the Court’s liberal minority.
Biden fulfilled a campaign pledge by nominating the first black woman to the Court. Jackson will be the third African American justice confirmed to the Court, after Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas.
Jackson counted being born in the U.S. as one of “many blessings” in her life, when she accepted the nomination in February.
“The United States of America is the greatest beacon of hope and democracy that the world has ever known,” Jackson said at the time.
While Republicans almost uniformly opposed Jackson’s confirmation, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitt Romney of Utah voted in favor. Romney’s decision came after he voted against Jackson’s nomination to a separate appeals court in 2021.
“In her previous confirmation vote, I had concerns about whether or not she was in the mainstream. And having spent time with her personally and reviewing her testimony before Congress became convinced that she is in the mainstream,” Romney told reporters on Tuesday.
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) announced his opposition in a Senate floor speech on March 24, citing in part Jackson’s refusal take a position on packing the Court during her confirmation hearings.
“Judge Jackson was the court-packers’ pick and she testified like it,” McConnell said.
Senator Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) also announced opposition to Jackson’s confirmation.
“Judge Jackson has impeccable credentials and a deep knowledge of the law, but at every turn this week she not only refused to claim originalism as her judicial philosophy, she refused to claim any judicial philosophy at all,” Sasse said in a statement on March 25. “Although she explained originalism and textualism in some detail to the committee, Judge Jackson refused to embrace them or any other precise system of limits on the judicial role.”
Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) initially criticized Jackson for what he claimed were lenient sentencing decisions for individuals found guilty of possessing child pornography. Addressing some of those claims in Senate hearings, Jackson said she took such cases “very seriously.”
“I take these cases very seriously as a mother, as someone who, as a judge, has to review the actual evidence in these cases,” Jackson said in response to a question from Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas).
Other Republicans, including Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Ted Cruz of Texas, criticized Jackson for serving as a public defender for alleged terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.