Highlights from Senate vote to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson

The Senate voted 53-47 in a bipartisan vote on Jackson's nomination.

Last Updated: April 7, 2022, 5:29 PM EDT

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court in its 233-year history, was confirmed by the Senate in a 53-47 vote Thursday.

She got three Republican votes, marking a bipartisan victory for President Joe Biden and his high court nominee.

Mar 22, 2022, 9:01 AM EDT

KBJ arrives on Capitol Hill

Judge Jackson arrived on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning to continue a marathon week of hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will need to approve sending her nomination to the Supreme Court to the full Senate for a floor vote.

The hearings will gavel in at 9 a.m. and each of the committee's 11 Republican and 11 Democratic members will have up to 30 minutes to question Jackson one on one.

Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson arrives for her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, March 22, 2022, in Washington, D.C.
Win Mcnamee/Getty Images

Jackson, 51, was sworn in Monday and delivered an opening statement to reintroduce herself to the nation.

"I hope that you will see how much I love our country, and the Constitution and the rights that make us free," she told the senators who will vote on her historic nomination.

She also hinted at how she might address GOP critiques on Tuesday, telling senators that she adopts a "neutral posture" and sees her judicial role as "a limited one."

Mar 22, 2022, 8:59 AM EDT

Republicans preview how they'll question KBJ

While Democrats have emphasized the historic nature of Judge Jackson's nomination and her compelling personal story, Republicans have vowed "thorough and civil" scrutiny of her record in hundreds of cases, which several have alleged shows she is "soft on crime."

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., leveled the most pointed critique of Jackson's record so far in his opening statement Monday, accusing her of a "long record" of letting child porn offenders "off the hook" in sentencing. The White House, several independent fact-checkers, and conservative outlet The National Review have called the claims misleading and unfair.

Senator Josh Hawley, right, meets U.S. Supreme Court nominee and federal appeals court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, in his office at the United States Capitol building in Washington, March 9, 2022.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters, FILE

Republicans including Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., have also made clear they will also take aim at Jackson's defense of an accused terrorist held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay -- a case she was assigned to as a federal public defender. Jackson has previously explained her service as an example of belief in constitutional values.

Others indicated they planned to press Jackson to characterize her judicial philosophy, though she's said outright she doesn't have one, and to answer for progressive legal advocacy groups backing both her nomination and expanding the Supreme Court's bench.

-ABC News' Devin Dwyer

Mar 22, 2022, 8:25 AM EDT

Questioning could prove critical in securing GOP votes

Questioning over the next two days could prove critical to the White House goal of securing at least some Republican support for Judge Jackson's confirmation.

Three Republicans -- Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Lindsey Graham -- voted in favor of Jackson's confirmation to the D.C. Circuit last June, but after private meetings with Biden's nominee this month, all three were noncommittal about supporting her again.

Jackson has been vetted twice previously by the Judiciary Committee and twice confirmed by the full Senate as a judge. She was also Senate confirmed in 2010 as vice-chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson participates in her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Capitol in Washington, D.C, March 21, 2022.
Doug Mills/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

No Republican senator has publicly disputed Jackson's qualification to be a justice, though several have raised concerns about her rulings and presumed judicial philosophy, which she has insisted she does not have.

Even without bipartisan support, Democrats have the votes on their own for Jackson's confirmation, which party leaders have said they plan to complete before Easter.

-ABC News’ Devin Dwyer

Mar 22, 2022, 8:08 AM EDT

KBJ faces 4th Senate grilling Tuesday

Confirmation hearings for Judge Jackson -- the first Black woman to be considered for the U.S. Supreme Court -- continue on Tuesday at 9 a.m. when she'll face up to 19 hours of questions from Senate Judiciary Committee members over two days.

Jackson will lean on her three prior experiences being questioned by the Judiciary Committee -- more than any other nominee in 30 years -- as its 11 Republicans and 11 Democrats take turns probing her judicial philosophy, her record as a public defender and her legal opinions spanning nearly nine years on the bench.

Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is sworn-in during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill March 21, 2022.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Jackson has spent the past few weeks practicing for the spotlight during mock sessions conducted with White House staff, sources familiar with the preparations told ABC News. She also met individually with each of the committee's members and 23 other senators from both parties.

Each senator will get a 30-minute solo round of questioning on Tuesday, totaling more than 11 hours if each uses all of his or her allotted time, ahead of 20-minute rounds on Wednesday. The grilling is unlike any other for federal judges or political nominees in large part because of the lifetime tenure on the line.

-ABC News’ Devin Dwyer

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