Susan Collins backs Ketanji Brown Jackson, giving SCOTUS nominee at least 1 GOP vote

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) will vote to confirm nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, The New York Times reported Wednesday. She is the first Republican to publicly announce her support.
With Collins' support, Democrats can now boast "some degree of bipartisanship" around Jackson's historic nomination. The endorsement should also avoid Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote — just so long as all 50 Democratic senators move together, the Times notes.
"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," Collins told the Times. "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 will be the first Black woman elevated to the nation's highest court.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Collins told the Times she'd been reassured that Jackson would not be "bending the law to meet a personal preference." The centrist lawmaker met with the judge for the second time Tuesday afternoon.
Collins was also one of three Republicans to vote in June to confirm Jackson to her current seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Washington, D.C., circuit.
"There can be no question that she is qualified to be a Supreme Court justice," the senator said. Read more at The New York Times.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
Is this the end of the late-night chat show?
Talking Point Totems of US media landscape 'seem like relics of a bygone era' as ad revenues plummet and viewers switch to YouTube, TikTok and podcasts
-
Keep the fun going with these 7 subscription gift boxes
The Week Recommends Bring the party to their mailbox
-
Babies born using 3 people's DNA are without hereditary disease
Under the radar The method could eliminate mutations for future generations
-
28 nations condemn Israel's 'inhumane killing' in Gaza
Speed Read Countries including Australia, France, Japan and the U.K. have released a joint statement condemning Israel's ongoing attacks
-
Israeli gunfire kills dozens at Gaza aid site
Speed Read The U.N. estimates that at least 875 Palestinians have died while trying to access food in recent months
-
Rubio says US brokered end to Syria conflict
Speed Read Syria's defense ministry was targeted in Israeli attacks on the capital
-
Trump threatens Russia with 'severe tariffs'
speed read The president also agreed to sell NATO advanced arms for Ukraine
-
IDF blames 'error' for strike on Gaza water line
Speed Read Israeli forces attack Palestinians, including children, collecting water in central Gaza
-
Iran still has enriched uranium, Israeli official says
Speed Read It remains unclear how long it would take Iran to rebuild its nuclear program following US and Israeli attacks
-
Trump U-turns on weapons to Ukraine
Speed Read Unhappy with Putin, Trump decides the US will go back to arming Ukraine against Russia's attacks
-
Ukraine scrambles as Trump cuts weapons deliveries
Speed Read The halting of weapons shipments was driven by Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby, a Ukraine funding skeptic