Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson will likely head to the Supreme Court as three Republicans joined Democrats to vote for her confirmation.
The Senate Judiciary Committee ended its vote for Judge Jackson in a deadlock after Republicans responded to criticism they were too harsh.
All 11 Democrats voted in favour of President Joe Biden’s nominee to serve on the Supreme Court to replace Justice Stephen Breyer while every Republican voted against her confirmation.
But Ms Jackson received a boon after Republicans Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney announced their support for her confirmation. Senator Susan Collins of Maine announced her support last week. The Republican support allowed for the motion to discharge for Ms Jackson’s confirmation to pass with 53 votes.
The confirmation vote came weeks after members of the committee aggressively questioned Ms Jackson. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin lauded Republicans including ranking Republican Chuck Grassley for treating Ms Jackson with respect but chided some Republicans for interrupting the judge and “accused her of vile things in front of her parents, her husband and her children.”
He alluded to questions from Republican senators about her record on sentencing regarding child sex abuse images.
“They impugned her motives, and questioned her candour, one all but called her a liar,” he said. “Judge Jackson is a better person than me. She stayed calm and collected. She showed dignity, grace and poise.”
But many Republicans took exception to the questioning, saying they only were asking her about her record.
Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who is to the right of many Republican senators on criminal justice, criticised her record on sentencing as a judge and for detainees as Guantanamo Bay.
“Judge Jackson habitually sympathizes with criminals over victims,” he said. “If you are a criminal, you would be lucky if your case is assigned to Judge Jackson.”
Senator Lindsey Graham assailed Democrats for the way they treated Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his hearing and justified his interrupting Ms Jackson during her hearing.
“I don’t know how you question witnesses, I interrupt when I think they’re being evasive, I let them talk when they’re answering the question,” he said. He also complained about liberal organisations supporting her.
“If we get back the Senate and we’re in charge of this body and there’s judicial openings, we will talk to our colleagues on the other side, but if we were in charge she would not be before the committee,” he said.
Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, the first Senator to raise questions about Ms Jackson’s record on convicting child sex abuse offenders, responded to attacks by the White House that he was making a “QAnon-signalling smear.”
"Sex crimes against children are not fiction. They are not a conspiracy,” he said. “These are real crimes. I’m a father of three young children.”
But Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, who spent much of his time at the hearing speaking about the role of dark money in Republican judicial nominations, said that the accusations came from the same right-wing money network.
Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee specifically took issue with Mr Durbin’s characterisation of Republican attacks as “vile” and “baseless.”
“Questions are not attacks,” she said. “Confirming a Supreme Court Justice is one of our most important duties as United States senators. This is a lifetime appointment and it would be a dereliction of duty to our constituents not to ask tough questions.”
Ms Blackburn notoriously asked Ms Jackson “what is a woman” while making a larger point about transgender women participating in public life, saying that Ms Jackson would be “certain vote for government overreach in family decisions.”
Shortly after the vote, Mr Durbin filed a motion to discharge for Ms Jackson’s nomination and there will now be four hours of debate on her nomination.
While Republicans mostly took umbrage with characterisation of their attacks, many Democrats defended Judge Jackson. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey asked Republicans why they voted for Republican-appointed nominees who gave similar sentences on child sex abuse cases as Ms Jackson.
“She didn’t need me to defend her record,” he told The Independent after the vote. “She could have had a committee of 22 Josh Hawleys and she would have still persevered. She’s extraordinary. I felt a need to speak to her record which, was a lot of folks felt was being disrespected or overlooked at a time that it should be celebrated and really given the honour and due that it deserves.”
