Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court Nomination Advances to Senate Floor

What’s the story?

• The Senate is on track to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court before the end of the week after senators advanced her nomination past a pair of procedural hurdles on Monday.
• Monday’s first step involved the Senate Judiciary Committee holding a vote to report her nomination to the full Senate. The evenly-divided committee’s vote ultimately deadlocked 11-11 as expected with Democrats in favor and Republicans after it was postponed for several hours when Sen. Alex Padilla’s (D-CA) flight from California experienced a delay. 
• After the committee’s vote resulted in a tie with Padilla in attendance, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) made a motion to discharge the nomination from the committee so that it could be considered by the full Senate. 
• That set up four hours of debate equally divided between the two parties prior to the discharge vote, although a significant amount of that time was yielded back to allow senators to cast their votes earlier in the evening. 
• Senators voted 53-47 to discharge Jackson’s nomination from the committee and complete Monday’s procedural two-step. Three Republicans ― Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Mitt Romney (R-UT) ― joined Democrats in supporting her nomination.

What’s next?

• The rest of the confirmation process is likely to play out over the next several days and conclude on Friday. 
• Schumer is expected to move to draw the debate to a close by filing a cloture motion on Tuesday. That motion will need to “ripen” for one intervening day before it can be voted on, so it will be held over on Wednesday.
• Then the Senate will vote to “invoke” cloture on Thursday and limit further debate to 30 hours, setting up a confirmation vote on Friday at a time that will depend on when Thursday’s vote occurs and whether senators choose to yield back debate time.

RELATED READING

• This Week in Congress: Senate Set to Confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, House to Require Investigation of Russian War Crimes in Ukraine (4/3/22)
• What’s Next for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court Nomination? (3/26/22)
• Senate Judiciary Committee Concludes Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings (3/24/22)
• Watch & Comment: Senate Judiciary Committee Holds Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings (Day 3) (3/23/22)
• Watch & Comment: Senate Judiciary Committee Holds Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings (Day 2) (3/22/22)
• President Biden Nominates Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court (2/25/22)
• Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer Announces Retirement (1/27/22)
• Know a Nominee: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals (6/14/21)

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: iStock.com / clintcpopineau)