'She’s very well prepared,' Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley said. Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson may not get Hawley's or any other Republican's vote. But senator by senator, Jackson is networking with zeal and a collegial tone.
“I want to make this a bipartisan vote,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin said after Breyer announced his retirement. “I think it is not only good for the Supreme Court, it’s good for the Senate.”
The most gettable Republican vote is Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who has already received three calls from Biden andfor more than 90 minutes on Tuesday. Collins, one of only three Republicans to vote for Jackson when she was confirmed to the circuit court last year, called the “lengthy and very productive.” She signaled that that the nominee is likely to have her vote.
Even if other Republicans don’t vote for Jackson, it’s clear that she has impressed many of them as she has navigated the awkward ritual of the meet and greet. Texas Sen. John Cornyn praised her experience as a public defender and said she was “charming.” North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis noted how prepared she was, a move he said was “wise.” Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse shook her hand and congratulated her while the two smiled for cameras under a large buffalo head on his office wall.
In 2018, Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy; his confirmation came after an explosive, combative hearing in which Christine Blasey Ford accused him of sexually assaulting her in high school, which Kavanaugh denied. Asked about Biden’s pledge to nominate a Black woman, McConnell replied: “Honestly, I did not think that was inappropriate.”
Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono, a member of the Judiciary panel, said that when she met with Jackson she asked the judge what stood out to her most about Breyer, whom she had clerked for many years ago. She said Jackson replied that it was the justice’s ability to reach out to other members of the court.