The Senate hearings for President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court Justice nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson have been set for March 21, leading to a potential vote that could confirm the first black woman to sit on the nation’s highest court by next month.
Senate Judiciary Committee Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced the scheduled hearing on Wednesday as Jackson shared her first meetings with senators in Washington, D.C.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson for the week of March 21. If confirmed, Jackson would be the first Black woman to serve as a justice in the court’s 200-plus year history. https://t.co/o1IowyXFz9
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 2, 2022
Jackson is slated to meet with lawmakers today from both parties, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson is on Capitol Hill today for her first meetings with senators as Democrats eye a swift confirmation process. Jackson’s first meeting is with Senate Leader Chuck Schumer. She’s also scheduled to meet with McConnell, Durbin, Grassley. pic.twitter.com/2o3B9UKLEP
— Mary Clare Jalonick (@MCJalonick) March 2, 2022
President Joe Biden has announced Ketanji Brown Jackson on Friday as his nominee for the Supreme Court to replace Justice Stephen Breyer, a Clinton-era appointment who recently announced his retirement. In a Twitter post released on Wednesday, the president referred to Jackson as “a proven consensus builder, an accomplished lawyer, and a distinguished jurist.”
“She deserves to be confirmed as the next justice of the Supreme Court,” he added.
Judge Jackson is a proven consensus builder, an accomplished lawyer, and a distinguished jurist. She deserves to be confirmed as the next justice of the Supreme Court. pic.twitter.com/JRU8EDmqL7
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 2, 2022
“Supreme Court justices are on the highest court in the country, and it’s very important that the justice system is administered fairly so that people can have liberty and justice in our society,” Jackson said in the video.
Despite glowing statements from the Biden administration, conservative leaders are sharing a more measured view of Jackson ahead of the committee nomination hearings.
“While I have concerns about how President Biden is handling this nomination process, I look forward to evaluating Judge Jackson on her record, views, and judicial philosophy alone. Sadly, Senate Democrats have undermined the American people’s confidence in previous judicial confirmation processes with vicious personal smears and unfounded accusations,” Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said in a statement after congratulating Jackson regarding her nomination.
“These kinds of shameless attacks demeaned the Senate and made a mockery of our constitutional role in providing advice and consent to the president on nominations. I believe Judge Jackson should be treated with the dignity and decorum that has been lacking from the consideration of past nominations,” he added.
Cruz, who opposed Jackson’s nomination to her current position on the D.C. Circuit, is among those who could stand in the way of her confirmation. Jackson was likely selected in part due to her acceptance among some Republicans, however, as The Daily Wire previously reported:
Of strong importance to Biden and fellow Democrats, however, is that Jackson has been twice confirmed by the Senate in the past.
“She has also been twice confirmed by the Senate, including last year, when three Republicans voted yes in a 53-to-44 vote to approve her elevation to the powerful U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a traditional proving ground for potential justices. The three Republicans who voted to confirm her — and who will be under pressure from Democrats to do so again in the evenly divided Senate — were Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska,” The New York Times noted.
Other conservatives have taken an even stronger approach in speaking out against Jackson’s nomination based on her left-leaning record.
“Judge Jackson’s record of reversals by the left-leaning D.C. Circuit is troubling for anyone concerned about the rule of law,” Judicial Crisis Network president Carrie Severino told Fox News Digital. “For example, in Make the Road New York v. Wolf, a D.C. Circuit panel composed of a majority of Democratic nominees concluded that Jackson had set aside a Trump administration rule where there was no legal basis to do so.”