Jackson nomination advances after Senate committee deadlocks

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is expected to be confirmed as the first Black woman Supreme Court justice this week, after a bipartisan group of senators voted on Monday to advance her nomination.

After the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-11, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called for a vote to break the deadlock and send her nomination to the floor. Every Democrat and three Republican senators — Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — voted in support of Jackson.

Senate Republican and Democratic leaders agree that Jackson is a well-qualified nominee, but almost all GOP senators are expected to oppose her. Jackson, 51, sits on DC’s federal appellate court and had been considered the front-runner for the vacancy since Justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement. Jackson previously worked as a clerk for Breyer, a federal public defender, an attorney in private practice, a federal district court judge and a member of the US Sentencing Commission.

Here are some key takeaways from Monday’s Senate committee vote:

Procedural hurdle overcome and bipartisan support gained: The committee deadlocking on Jackson’s nomination meant that, for the first time in the modern history of Supreme Court confirmations, she needed an additional procedural step – known as a discharge petition – to get on the Senate floor.

Jackson is also expected to be confirmed to the Supreme Court this week with bipartisan support. GOP senators Collins, Romney and Murkowski announced that they will vote in favor to confirm her to fill Breyer’s upcoming vacancy.

Supreme Court confirmations are only getting more political: The fact that Jackson will replace a fellow Democratic appointee on the high court and won’t meaningfully change its lean did not make her proceedings any less of a partisan brawl. 

As Republicans blamed Democrats Monday for hostility shown several decades ago towards GOP-supported contenders for the Supreme Court, they also argued that no committee Democrat voted for any of former President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominees.

For Democrats, Republicans changed the game with their refusal to give Obama-nominee Merrick Garland a hearing in 2016. Sen. Lindsey Graham said Monday that if Republicans had controlled the Senate, they would not have given Jackson a hearing either.

A delay shows how fragile the path is for Senate Democrats: The committee had to take a multi-hour break before voting on Jackson because a Democratic member’s arrival to DC was delayed.

Sen. Alex Padilla’s flight issues were a reminder why having only 50 votes in the Senate presents all sorts of risks to President Joe Biden’s ability to put a justice on a court. It also explains why some on the left were so aggressive in their calls for Justice Stephen Breyer to retire.

Republicans defended the harsh tone they took with Jackson: Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Dick Durbin said that most of the Republicans treated Jackson fairly but that a few of the GOP members went over the line in their “baseless” attacks on her.

That prompted a rebuke by Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who said that “questions are not attacks” and that it would be a “dereliction of duty to our constituents not to ask tough questions.” Durbin stood by his earlier assessments. “I never named a name, so if anybody took it personally, that’s their decision,” he said.

For Democrats, the GOP hostility was just another hurdle the ground-breaking judge would have to overcome: As he decried the “disrespectful” rhetoric directed at Jackson, Sen. Cory Booker equated the experience she has gone through to the stories he’s heard from people – and particularly Black woman – about “having to endure the absurdities of disrespect that we saw Jackson endure.

“How can they disrespect a person like her, who has done everything right in her life and in her journey?” Booker said, as he ticked off some of Jackson’s credentials. “How qualified do you have to be, double-Harvard? How qualified do you have to be, clerking at all levels of the federal judiciary? How qualified do you have to be, three times confirmed by the Senate in a bipartisan manner?”

CNN’s Alex Rogers contributed reporting to this post.

Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson testifies during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on March 23.

A motion to proceed with the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson passed with 53-47 vote. 51 votes were needed for the motion to succeed.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will now move to break a GOP filibuster of Jackson leading to a final vote confirmation vote either Thursday or Friday. 

Schumer made a formal move to discharge the nomination of Jackson from the Senate Judiciary Committee after it deadlocked in a 11-11 vote.

Every Democratic senator and three Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — then voted in support of Jackson.

Sen. Mitt Romney, right, meets with Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson on Capitol Hill on March 29 in Washington, DC.

Utah GOP Sen. Mitt Romney announced on Twitter that he intends to vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

“I intend to vote in support of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to be an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court,” tweeted Romney.

Here’s his full tweet:

Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski speaks at the US Capitol on March 29 in Washington, DC.

Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced she will support Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court this week.

Murkowski’s decision has been eagerly anticipated as she’s up for re-election this year and is already facing heavy political pressure having voted against former President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial last year.

But the senator said she’s confident in Jackson’s ability and qualifications:

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer at the Capitol in Washington on March 29.

On the Senate the floor, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer made a formal move to discharge the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson from the Senate Judiciary Committee after it deadlocked in a 11-11 vote.

There are up to four hours of debate but the vote is expected between 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. ET.

51 votes are needed for the motion to succeed.

After she is discharged, Schumer will move to break a GOP filibuster of Jackson leading to a final vote confirmation vote either Thursday or Friday. 

Schumer reiterated on the floor Monday that the Senate will confirm Judge Jackson to the Supreme Court by the end of the week and will take a series of procedural votes in the coming days to set up that final vote.

Schumer called Jackson highly qualified and said “it’s not easy being thrown suddenly and abruptly into the national spotlight” and complained Republican “objections are entirely unserious.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee reconvened and voted on whether to move forward with President Biden’s Supreme Court justice pick, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

The committee voted along party lines, 11-11, on the nomination of Jackson, the first step in a series Democrats will take to confirm her by the end of the week.

What will happen next: After the committee vote, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will move to discharge the nomination of Judge Jackson and send it to the Senate floor.

The discharge vote on the floor could happen around 5:30-6:30 p.m. ET, according to GOP Sen. John Thune’s office.

It takes 51 votes to discharge the deadlocked nomination. We will get a sense then how Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney plan to vote on Jackson.

Senate Republican and Democratic leaders agree that Jackson is a well-qualified nominee, but almost all GOP senators are expected to oppose her.

Jackson, 51, sits on DC’s federal appellate court and had been considered the front-runner for the vacancy since Justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement. Jackson previously worked as a clerk for Breyer, a federal public defender, an attorney in private practice, a federal district court judge and a member of the US Sentencing Commission.

If confirmed, Jackson will be the first Black woman to be a Supreme Court justice. 

CNN’s Manu Raju contributed reporting to this post.

The Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote to advance Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the full chamber is expected to be a 11-11 split along party lines. Despite the deadlock, there are still ways that Senate Democrats can put her nomination forward for a full vote in the coming days. 

So far, only one Republican, Maine Sen. Susan Collins, has said she would support Jackson, likely setting up the type of tight vote tally for her confirmation that has become more routine as nomination battles have grown increasingly contentious. 

In the past, nominees have sailed to confirmation without a single Nay vote, as Justices Anthony Kennedy and Antonin Scalia did. Or in the case of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, just three Nays. 

Justice Stephen Breyer — whose seat Jackson is nominated to fill – was confirmed 87-9 in 1994 during the Clinton administration. And in 2005, Chief Justice John Roberts, who was nominated by President George W. Bush, was confirmed with a vote of 78-22 under a Republican-controlled Senate.

For the nine sitting justices, Breyer and Roberts are the only two who were confirmed with a margin of over 50 votes in their favor, receiving strong support from members of both parties. Justice Sonia Sotomayor (68-31) and Justice Elena Kagan (63-37) were both easily confirmed during the Obama administration.

In 2018, Justice Brett Kavanaugh barely scraped by with a vote of 50-48 following his contentious confirmation hearings when he faced accusations of sexual assault by a former classmate. And Justice Clarence Thomas, whose hearings featuring Anita Hill shocked the nation, was confirmed by a 52-48 tally.

Justices Samuel Alito (58-42), Neil Gorsuch (54-45) and Amy Coney Barrett (52-48) were all nominated by a Republican president and confirmed by a Republican-controlled Senate.

GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have been citing similar reasons Monday for voting against Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court confirmation. 

Republicans on the panel are expected to be united in their opposition of the nominee when they vote later Monday.

Here’s a look at some of the points Republicans have been raising in their remarks:

Lack of judicial philosophy: Jackson’s refusal to align herself with any specific judicial philosophy – like the originalist or textualism – has been cited by several Republicans.  

“We don’t expect a nominee to say that they will agree with a specific justice 100% of the time, but it’s not asking too much that a nominee be able to explain the justice’s approach to the law and where they might differ,” Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, said. 

Democrats have countered that some GOP appointees for the high court, like Chief Justice John Roberts, also did not identify themselves as following a particular judicial philosophy. 

Supposedly soft on crime: Republicans on Monday attacked Jackson for being “lenient” towards criminal offenders in her sentencing, with some committee members continuing their focus on her record on child pornography cases. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, for instance touted charts that he said showed that her average sentence in certain categories of these cases was below the national average, while Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, discussed the “policy disagreements” Jackson has shown with what the sentencing guidelines instruct doing in those cases.

Democrats pushed back on those complaints by arguing that Republicans have supported GOP appointed judges who exhibited similar sentencing tendencies towards those types of defendants. They also touted the endorsements Jackson has received from a variety of law enforcement and victims’ rights groups.   

“To say she’s an extremist on crime belies the fact that she has law enforcement group after law enforcement group supporting her,” Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, said. 

A Trump era immigration ruling: As Republicans labeled Jackson a “radical” and an “activist” judge, they’ve zeroed in one decision in particular she issued as a district court judge, when she ruled against a Trump-era immigration policy that expanded the categories of noncitizens that may be subjected to expedited deportation procedures. Her decision was overturned on appeal. 

“The Make the Road case demonstrated her willingness to put left wing policy above the law,” Cruz said, referring the the immigration case. 

The Senate Judiciary Committee is now in recess and is expected to return later today to vote on whether to advance the nomination of Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Sen. Dick Durbin, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, just confirmed publicly as members were wrapping up their remarks on Judge Jackson that Sen. Alex Padilla will be delayed.

The chairman says the committee will reconvene when Padilla lands later this afternoon. 

He said that Padilla and his entire family were taking the red eye last night when there was a medical emergency onboard and they were diverted back to Los Angeles.

He said there was a time when senators would often engage in paired voting to cover a delay like this, but he said he understands that this is an important vote for everyone. 

“There was a time when pairing for a vote was common; where someone, two senators with opposite positions on a vote would agree that neither one of them was gonna vote, so that the outcome would not be affected,” Durbin said.

He added, “We’re in a different position because this is not a run of the mill ordinary vote, this is an important one that everyone here has thought through very seriously, and we should take very seriously.” 

More on today’s vote: The committee is made up of 11 members of each party, and every Republican on the committee is expected to vote against advancing Jackson’s nomination. However, Senate Democrats are still expected to put her nomination to a full confirmation vote on the floor in the coming days. 

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee, criticized Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Dick Durbin, who she said “repeatedly dressed down” Republicans for asking “tough questions” during Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearings.

Blackburn said that Durbin called some of the questions by Republicans “vile” and “baseless” despite the fact that she believed they were raising “legitimate concerns” about child pornography sentences handed down by Jackson. Blackburn added that Republicans on the committee made reasonable requests for documents from these cases that were not turned over.

Blackburn said these “questions are not attacks” and it would be a “dereliction of duty not to ask tough questions.”

After she was finished, Durbin responded, stating that it was his opinion that the majority of questions for Jackson from Republicans were fair and respectful. He noted that he “never named a name” when he criticized the GOP questions.

Durbin then reiterated his point that he thinks some of the Republican questions went “too far” and “don’t reflect the reality of who [Judge Jackson] is or what she’s accomplished.”

On the question of turning over documents to the committee, Durbin said that some of these documents, specifically presentencing reports from some of Judge Jackson’s cases, are records that the Senate Judiciary Committee has never requested. He said that some of the records are “confidential in nature” and added when he spoke to several Republicans about the matter, they agreed it wasn’t appropriate to disclose those reports.

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) speaks to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House after a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden on February 10, 2022 in Washington, DC.

A spokesperson for Sen. Alex Padilla, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, says the California Democrat is delayed in returning to Washington, DC, today “due to a passenger medical emergency” on his flight from LAX. However, he is expected to arrive later this afternoon. 

A spokesperson for the committee told CNN that Padilla cannot vote by proxy if he plans to vote ‘yes’ to advance Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination out of the committee. The spokesperson said that according to the Senate Parliamentarian’s reading of the rules, only negative proxies would count.

The committee spokesperson said the committee will not hold the final vote until Padilla returns.

Some more context: The committee is made up of 11 members of each party, and every Republican on the committee is expected to vote against advancing Jackson’s nomination. However, Senate Democrats are still expected to put her nomination to a full confirmation vote on the floor in the coming days. 

Padilla’s delayed arrival is not expected to affect the committee’s timeline by more than a few hours.

After several Republicans brought up the way Democrats approached past GOP-supported judges – like retired Circuit Judge Janice Rogers Brown and Justice Brett Kavanaugh – Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, kicked off his statement with a “Seinfeld” allusion. 

“And one of the aspects of Festivus is the airing of grievances and I think that we’ve had probably the best Festivus celebration here in this hearing over the last week or so because there’s been a lot of airing grievances,” Booker said. 

As the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination continues, across the street, the Supreme Court ruled Monday that a New York man could go forward with a malicious prosecution claim against police even though he wasn’t ultimately acquitted for the underlying charge, lowering the bar for when such civil lawsuits for damages can be brought under certain circumstances.

“A plaintiff need only show that his prosecution ended without a conviction,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the 6-3 majority made up of three conservatives and three liberals, noting that in the case at hand charges were ultimately dismissed.

Read more below:

The US Supreme Court is seen in Washington, DC on February 8, 2022.

Related article Supreme Court says malicious prosecution claims don't need an underlying acquittal | CNN Politics

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, said that if confirmed, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will “walk into that court with her head held high” because she is “opening up that court to make every little girl and boy in America to realize that anything and everything is possible.”

Klobuchar said that Jackson “is truly an inspiration to young Black girls” like an 11-year-old from DC whose dad stopped Klobuchar on a walk one day and presented her with his daughter’s letter written to President Joe Biden on why he should consider her as his SCOTUS nominee.

Klobuchar added that the young girl noted in her letter “that with her age she could remain on the court for at least 80 years.”

“Her argument was that she wanted to be the voice for children. And she said, ‘I live a few blocks from the Supreme Court so it will be easy for me to get there,’” Klobuchar said.  

The senator said that after Judge Jackson was nominated, the 11-year-old said, “If I’m going to be snubbed, it couldn’t be for a better candidate.”

Returning to a theme of Judge Jackson’s hearings before the committee, Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn again singled out the Supreme Court’s 2015 same-sex marriage ruling. 

He went on to criticize court decisions that created “a right that is not even mentioned in the Constitution,” as something that puts into question the “independence” and “legitimacy” of the Supreme Court. 

Cornyn grilled Jackson at length about Obergefell vs. Hodges decision, asking at last month’s hearings whether the ruling was “an act of judicial policymaking.”  

On Monday, Cornyn said Jackson wouldn’t answer his questions on so-called unenumerated rights, as he complained about her lack of a judicial philosophy. 

What Jackson said during the hearings: Jackson outlined what she described as her “methodology” for approaching cases when she faced lawmaker questions last month.

Her comments came in response to a question from Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin of Illinois, who asked her to elaborate on her judicial philosophy, as Republicans have claimed she has not yet been specific enough on that point. She said that the methodology she uses ensures that she is impartial and that she is “adhering to the limits” of her “judicial authority.”

“I am acutely aware that as a judge in our system I have limited power and I am trying in every case to stay in my lane,” she said.

Describing a three-step process, Jackson said step one is ensuring that she was “proceeding from a position of neutrality,” adding that she clears her mind about about any “preconceived notion” for how the case should come out. Step two is taking all the “appropriate inputs” for the case — the arguments, written briefs, hearings, friend-of-the-court arguments, as well as the factual record. The final step is the interpretation of the law to the facts of the case. “This is when I am observing the constraints” on her judicial authority, she said

The 22 members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are delivering speeches now about their positions on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination before voting. 

Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, said committee members would have 10 minutes for their statements.

An 11-11 tie is expected in the panel today since no Republican members of the committee appear poised to vote for her. To advance the deadlocked nomination to the floor, the Senate will need to vote on a motion to discharge her from committee, which they are expected to do also on Monday. 

Four hours of debate are allotted for this motion. Senators have been advised that a vote to discharge won’t take place before 5:30 p.m. ET, but depending on how long the committee action takes, it could be later.

What happens next: On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is expected to file a procedural motion to break a Republican filibuster of Jackson.

Wednesday will be the required intervening day on that motion when floor speeches on her nomination are likely.

Sometime Thursday, probably in the morning, there will be a vote to break the filibuster of Jackson. A simple majority is needed, which she is expected to get because she has the support of all 50 Democratic senators and at least one Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.

After the filibuster is broken, there are up to 30 hours of additional debate time allotted. Some of that could be yielded back, but it all might be used since most Republicans oppose her and will want to make speeches.

This means a final confirmation vote may come late Friday afternoon or evening, but we can’t say for certain when.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, left, during a Senate Judiciary Committee business meeting to vote on Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on April 4.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, dug into his reasons for voting no on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson after being one of the few Republicans to support confirming her for the US DC Circuit Court of Appeals last year.

Graham said he didn’t think twice about voting for Jackson for the DC Circuit, but the Supreme Court is “different” than an appellate role. 

He claimed that President Biden’s selection of Jackson was “embraced by the most radical people in the Democratic movement to the exclusion of everybody else,” adding that there were other contenders Biden could have nominated that would have gotten 60 to 65 votes in the Senate.

He said a Jackson ruling against a Trump administration immigration policy when she was a district judge showed her to be an “activist” judge “to the core.” He also said that he “couldn’t disagree more” with her approach to sentencing child porn offenders.

Graham went on to say that if Republicans controlled the Senate that Judge Jackson would not have gotten a hearing before the committee.

“If we get back the Senate and we are in charge of this body and there is judicial openings, we will talk to our colleagues on the other side, but if we are in charge, she would not have been before this committee. You would have had somebody more moderate than this,” he said. 

Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, said Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson put on a “masterclass” during her confirmation hearing, displaying “what it means to be an independent, fair-minded justice. 

He called Jackson “one of the most objectively well-qualified Supreme Court nominees” he has ever considered which he noted is “rooted in decades of experience in evaluating these nominees.” 

“I know that is going to fall on deaf ears to some members of this committee,” Leahy continued. “Members who unfortunately care more about seeing their soundbites in social media appeals than seriously and respectfully questioning nominees.” 

He said that some members of the committee “badgered” Jackson, to the point where they “even refused to respect basic rules and the quorum of the committee.” Still, Leahy said, Jackson “maintained a calm demeanor” and “confidence” in the face of “disrespectful behavior” — which “underscores her remarkable temperament.”

From left: Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) talks with Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) as they arrive for a Senate Judiciary Committee business meeting to vote on Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on April 4, in Washington, DC.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said at the top of the committee’s business meeting on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination that he will not support her confirmation.

This is not surprising, but notable since he is the ranking member.

Grassley went on to once again allege that the White House and Judge Jackson have been withholding records.

“Judge Jackson told us that she can’t get records for her old cases because she’s no longer a district court judge,” he said, referring to a request for more records relating to a child sexual abuse material case brought up by GOP Sen. Josh Hawley during her confirmation hearing.

“That seems to be very convenient, however, it is a big inconvenience to this senator. The refusal tells us that those documents probably wouldn’t help the nominee, because we’ve seen the willingness to leak any helpful information,” Grassley added.

Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, talked about Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s “impeccable qualifications” and said that her varied career experience — including as a public defender and trial court judge — would bring a “missing perspective” to the Supreme Court.

Durbin said it was “truly unfortunate” that some of his Republican colleagues on the committee levied “baseless attacks” against Jackson during their questioning during the confirmation hearings.

Durbin noted that Jackson has received “broad support” for her confirmation, including from law enforcement and Republican-appointed judges.

He also said that he was “impressed with her judicial temperament” while Republican committee members questioned her during the confirmation hearings. 

“On the whole, my Republican colleagues starting with my ranking member, Senator Grassley, treated the nominee with dignity and respect. They promised not to turn this confirmation process into a quote, ‘circus’ and most kept that process. Some, however, did not,” Durbin said.

He continued: “Instead, they repeatedly interrupt and badgered Judge Jackson and accused her of vile things in front of her parents, her husband and her children. There was table-pounding, some literal, from a few of my colleagues.”

Durbin criticized his Republican colleagues on the committee who he said “repeated discredited claims” about her record. 

Watch Durbin’s hearing remarks:

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CNN’s Alex Rogers contributed reporting to this post. 

The Senate Judiciary Committee, a 22-member panel divided evenly between Democrats and Republicans, is expected to vote on party lines today — 11-11 — barring any unforeseen circumstances.

It’s rare for the Senate Judiciary Committee to tie on a Supreme Court nomination.

But nomination battles have become increasingly contentious, and the current Senate is split 50-50, so there are an even number of Democrats and Republicans on the panel, rather than the majority party holding more seats.

Over the past five decades, the panel has deadlocked once — over Clarence Thomas, who was facing sexual harassment allegations. Fifteen justices —William Rehnquist, John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O’Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch , Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — passed the committee during that timeframe.

In 1987, Democrats who controlled the committee voted to unfavorably recommend President Ronald Reagan’s nominee Robert Bork on ideological grounds. And in 2020, Democrats boycotted a committee vote on Barrett, arguing that the chamber should not consider President Donald Trump’s lifetime appointment to the court while the country was voting in the presidential election.

In the Trump era, Senate Republicans strengthened the conservatives’ grip on the court from 5-4 to 6-3, after holding up President Barack Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland during another election year — 2016 — and then confirming Gorsuch in 2017, and Coney Barrett in 2020 to replace the late Ginsburg. Jackson’s confirmation would likely replace a liberal — Breyer — with another.

Despite the expected tie vote on Jackson today, there are ways in which the panel or the Senate Democrats in power can still put her nomination to a confirmation vote in the days to come.

If confirmed, Jackson will be the first Black woman to be a Supreme Court justice.

Senate committee chair Dick Durbin, Democrat from Michigan, arrives for a Senate Judiciary Committee business meeting to vote on Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on April 4 in Washington, DC.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is meeting now to vote on whether to advance Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on party lines — 11-11 — barring any unforeseen circumstances, but there are ways, in which, the panel or the Senate Democrats in power can still put her nomination to a confirmation vote in the days to come.

If confirmed, Jackson will be the first Black woman to be a Supreme Court justice.

Senate Republican and Democratic leaders agree that Jackson is a well-qualified nominee. Jackson, 51, sits on DC’s federal appellate court and had been considered the front-runner for the vacancy since Justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement.

Jackson previously worked as a clerk for Breyer, a federal public defender, an attorney in private practice, a federal district court judge and a member of the US Sentencing Commission.

But the vast majority of Senate Republicans will oppose Jackson. So far, Maine Sen. Susan Collins is the only Republican who has said she would support Jackson.

Voting to advance Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will be the main event when the Senate Judiciary Committee meets Monday.

But the committee will also be sending to the Senate floor several other federal judge nominees, as Democrats push to keep the judiciary confirmation machinery cranking while Jackson dominated the spotlight.

Since Justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement in late January, the Senate has confirmed 16 lower court judges — all while Democrats were managing the high-stakes, resource-intensive Supreme Court nomination process. They hope to only pick up the pace once Jackson is confirmed. President Joe Biden has more than 100 vacancies on lower courts to fill, and Democrats face the threat that they’ll lose control of the Senate in November’s midterms.

The Judiciary Committee is aiming to hold hearings on lower court nominations every other week while the Senate is in session in the months to come. The White House hopes to keep unveiling new nominees at a clip that there will be enough nominees in the queue for those hearings, during which the committee can hear testimony from up to five or six of Biden’s picks for the bench.

Biden has outpaced former President Donald Trump so far in the number of judges put at the bench at equivalent points in their presidency. But Trump had the advantage of four full years that the Senate was under his party’s controlled, something not guaranteed for Biden. Trump also had many more appellate vacancies available to fill — in addition to the three justices Trump was able to put on the Supreme Court.

Read more here:

President Joe Biden gestures as he delivers remarks on Covid-19 in the United States in the South Court Auditorium on March 30, in Washington, DC.

Related article Democrats scramble to confirm Biden judicial nominees before November

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, left, during her meeting with Ketanji Brown Jackson, in Washington, D.C., on March 8.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine will vote to confirm President Biden’s Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, she said in a statement on March 30, the first GOP senator to do so.

She first told The New York Times of her decision to support Jackson before releasing a statement. Jackson’s confirmation had been virtually assured following the announcement last month that moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia would vote for her, but Collins’ support means her confirmation will be bipartisan.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina announced on March 31 that he will not vote for Jackson, despite supporting her nomination to a previous Senate-confirmed position last year.

“I will oppose her and I will vote no,” Graham said in a speech on the Senate floor.

Graham, who is a member of the Judiciary Committee, had been signaling he would likely vote against the Supreme Court nomination and directed highly critical questions at Jackson during her confirmation hearings before the panel.

Last week, in announcing he would oppose the nomination, the senator said, “My decision is based upon her record of judicial activism, flawed sentencing methodology regarding child pornography cases and a belief Judge Jackson will not be deterred by the plain meaning of the law when it comes to liberal causes.”

GOP Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri announced on Sunday that he will oppose Jackson’s nomination.

“I think she’s certainly going to be confirmed,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.” “I think it’ll be a high point for the country to see her go on the court and take her unique perspective to the court. But I don’t think she’s the kind of judge that will really do the kind of work that I think needs to be done by the court and I won’t be supporting her but I’ll be joining others and understanding the importance of this moment.”

Republican Sen. Mitt Romney told reporters, last week that he doesn’t expect to reveal his decision until the day of the confirmation vote.

“After I’ve made a decision as to what I’m going to do on this vote, you’ll see it, but that’s probably not until the day of the vote itself,” he said.

Following the meeting with Jackson, Romney said in a statement that they “had a wide-ranging discussion about her experience and qualifications.”

“She’s a very impressive person. She’s intelligent, capable, she’s a lovely person as well and I think a great deal of her,” Romney later told CNN. “But delving into differences on judicial philosophy and her approach to the law is something that I’m going to keep working on.”

When the Senate voted to confirm Jackson last year to fill a vacancy on a powerful DC-based appellate court, three Republican senators voted with Democrats in favor: Graham, Collins and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. As a result, those three Republicans have been closely watched during the confirmation process.

Ketanji Brown Jackson during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C., on March 23.

Beyond the hyperbole and theatrics that have punctuated this week’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, a portrait of Ketanji Brown Jackson as jurist has begun to emerge.

Like the justice she would succeed, Stephen Breyer, Jackson leaned on multi-part legal methods and data points. She emphasized regard for judicial precedent. She also took a page from the conservative side of the bench when she spoke of searching for the “original” meaning of the Constitution.

Yet she added that sometimes the “words are not enough,” that a judge must “look at them in the context of history” and “the circumstances that you’re dealing with in comparison to what those words meant at the time that they were adopted.”

She stressed restraint at every turn. That may have been directed to the conservatives in her audience. Still, as a lower court judge for nearly a decade (most of that time as a trial judge), Jackson has shown scant interest in challenging established legal rules.

“I am acutely aware that as a judge, in our system,” she told senators on Tuesday, “I have limited power, and I am trying in every case to stay in my lane.”

During the questioning, ranking Judiciary Committee Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa tried to pin Jackson down on her precise “judicial philosophy.”

In terms of personal style, Jackson demonstrated a serious and thoughtful demeanor as she sat alone at the desk and was subject to harsh and offensive questioning from some Republicans.

“There are a lot of people who are book-smart,” Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Tuesday. “There are not as many people who are person-smart. And you are both.”

That could serve her well at the Supreme Court, which is currently marked by deep divisions and a tone of recrimination in some opinions. If confirmed, she would need all the persuasive ability she could muster. President Biden’s choice to succeed Breyer would be in the minority liberal wing of the high court. The court is split 6-3, conservative-liberal, and she would not change that basic balance.

Most strikingly, Jackson would become the first Black female justice in the court’s 233-year history. She also breaks the mold of most past nominees with her diverse experience, having served as a federal public defender, a trial judge and a member of the US Sentencing Commission.

Read the full analysis here.

West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin speaks to the press in the Senate Subway of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5.

West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin announced last month that he plans to vote for President Biden’s Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, a move that all but guarantees she will be confirmed.

Why this matters: Manchin’s announcement is notable since he is a closely-watched moderate Democrat and key swing vote in the Senate. His decision to vote “yes” helps solidify the vote math for Senate Democrats to confirm the nominee.

Senate Democrats can confirm Jackson to the Supreme Court without Republican support if every member of their caucus votes in favor, which appears on track to happen, and Vice President Kamala Harris breaks a tie.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed in a floor speech to bring the nomination to the Senate floor “in short order” once the Senate Judiciary Committee advances the nomination. The Judiciary Committee is expected to vote today on the nomination.

Jackson appeared before the committee for high-profile confirmation hearings last month, which featured intense questioning by Senate Republicans.

So far, no Democrats have publicly signaled they would vote against the nominee, even as Republicans have worked to unleash potentially politically damaging attacks such as accusations that Jackson is soft on crime, a charge the nominee and many Democrats have pushed back on.

While Republicans have attacked the nominee’s record this week, Democrats have praised her credentials and experience, describing her as exceptionally qualified. Democrats have also consistently emphasized the historic nature of Jackson’s nomination. If confirmed, Jackson would be the first Black woman to serve as a Supreme Court justice.

Four days of confirmation hearings on March 21-24 gave America the fullest picture yet of the judge who will likely become the first Black female justice of the US Supreme Court.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson spent three days in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee — two of them marathon sessions of questioning — where she described herself as an impartial and transparent jurist, while taking a calm but forceful tone to push back at GOP claims about her record. The dueling themes that Democrats and Republicans wanted to present about her nomination were punched up in a final day of testimony from outside witnesses.

Democrats are as eager as ever to confirm the DC federal appellate judge, as they decried the aggressive tactics employed by a handful of Republican members of the committee.

While she may pick up a few Republican votes, several GOP senators have sought to paint her as a soft on crime, “activist” judge, as they’ve used her hearings to showcase their messaging themes against Democrats heading into November’s midterms.

Even with the GOP theatrics, the reality that her confirmation won’t meaningfully change the conservative lean of the Supreme Court was still evident — particularly as Republican committee members launched attacks not just on Jackson, but on Supreme Court precedents protecting abortion rights, same-sex marriage and other landmark rulings.

Read more about her hearings here:

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 22: U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson testifies during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, March 22, 2022 in Washington, DC. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Joe Biden's pick to replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court, would become the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court if confirmed. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Related article Key takeaways from the four days of confirmation hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson

The Senate Judiciary Committee, a 22-member panel divided evenly between Democrats and Republicans, is slated to vote today on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination before a vote moves to the full 100-member Senate.

The committee is expected to vote on party lines — 11-11 — barring any unforeseen circumstances, but there are ways, in which, the panel or the Senate Democrats in power can still put her nomination to a confirmation vote in the days to come. 

Here’s who is on the panel:

Democrats:

Republicans:

Jackson has already been confirmed by the Senate three times for prior roles.

When the Senate voted to confirm Jackson last year to fill a vacancy on a powerful DC-based appellate court, three Republican senators voted with Democrats in favor: Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

CNN’s Alex Rogers contributed reporting to this post.