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.

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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.

Brigid Kennedy

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.