Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins says she'll vote for Supreme Court nominee Jackson

NPR's Washington Desk | NPR

March 30th, 2022

Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson meets with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, on Capitol Hill on March 8. Collins now says she'll vote for Jackson's nomination. If confirmed, she would be the court's first Black female justice.
Carolyn Kaster / Carolyn Kaster

Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson has picked up at least one Republican vote for confirmation.

Maine Sen. Susan Collins told the New York Times in an interview after meeting Jackson, “I have decided to support the confirmation of Judge Jackson to be a member of the Supreme Court.”

Jackson has had united support from Democrats — including West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin — which would be enough for Senate confirmation, and the White House has made significant outreach to GOP senators it hoped could support the nominee in hopes of getting bipartisan backing.

Collins was one of a few Republicans to support Jackson’s lower court nomination last year, and she criticized the partisan approach to Supreme Court nominations in the Times interview:

“In recent years, senators on both sides of the aisle have gotten away from what I perceive to be the appropriate process for evaluating judicial nominees. In my view, the role under the Constitution assigned to the Senate is to look at the credentials, experience and qualifications of the nominee. It is not to assess whether a nominee reflects the individual ideology of a senator or would vote exactly as an individual senator would want.”

If confirmed, Jackson would be the court’s first Black female justice.