President Nominates KBJ to SCOTUS

Today the President of the United States will make history: He will nominate an African-American female to the Supreme Court of the United States — Ketanji Brown Jackson. Judge Jackson was confirmed last year to D.C Circuit by a vote of 53–44.

With this nomination, the President has up to five republicans who he can turn to Senators Graham, Collins, Murkowski, Sasse, and Cornyn. I would say the President would be able to get Graham and Collins to vote for her — Collins has voted for every Supreme Court nominee since 1996 except for Amy Coney Barrett. One can hope that Senator Murkowski would vote for this nomination, but that could be a question mark due to her being up to re-election this year. Odds would be that Senators Cornyn and Sasse are “nos”, but it wouldn’t hurt for the judge to sit for a meeting with these senators. Previously Graham and Cornyn voted for Jackson when she came before the committee.

During her nomination future-Speaker Paul Ryan (associated by marriage) testified in favor saying: “Now, our politics may differ, but my praise for Ketanji’s intellect, for her character, for her integrity — it is unequivocal.”

I’m providing analysis & historical context here, showing that Judge Jackson received bipartisan votes both at the committee & floor level. Ultimately, no matter the fuss made there will be an African-American female on the Supreme Court and her name will be: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.