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, 11:11 AM EDT

Graham grills Jackson on her faith, makes comparison to Amy Coney Barrett

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham grilled Judge Jackson on her faith, appearing to try to make a point about how Democrats scrutinized Amy Coney Barrett's Catholic beliefs and membership in People of Praise in her confirmation hearings.

"What faith are you, by the way?" Graham asked first. "Could you fairly judge a Catholic?"

"How important is your faith to you?" he continued. "On a scale of one to 10, how faithful would you say you are in terms of religion?"

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson testifies on her nomination to become an Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C, on March 22, 2022.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Fielding the barrage of questions one by one, Jackson said she is a nondenominational Protestant Christian and that her faith is very important to her but declined to go in-depth on her faith practices. She also reminded that there's no religious test under the Constitution.

"I am reluctant to talk about my faith in this way," she said. "I want to be mindful of the need for the public to have confidence in my ability to separate out my personal views."

Sen. Lindsey Graham questions U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, March 22, 2022 in Washington, DC.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Graham went on to say he was not attacking her but trying to make a point about how "our people" -- conservative judicial appointees -- have been treated in the past.

"This stuff needs to stop. Our people deserve better respect. I hope when this is over, people will say you were well-treated even if we don't agree with you," he said.


-ABC News' Devin Dwyer

Mar 22, 2022, 10:56 AM EDT

Addressing 'soft on crime' attacks, Jackson defends record as a public defender

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., gave Judge Jackson a chance to defend herself against GOP attacks that she's "soft on crime or even anti-law enforcement because you accepted your duties as a public defender," he said.

Jackson said criminal defense lawyers perform a service but stressed that people must be held accountable for a society to function.

"As someone who has had family members on patrol and in the line of fire, I care deeply about public safety I know what it is like to have loved ones who go off to protect and to serve and the fear of not knowing whether or not they'll come home again because of crime in the community," she said, noting her brother and two uncles' careers in law enforcement.

Patrick Jackson takes notes as his wife Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson testifies during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, March 22, 2022, in Washington, D.C.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

"The need for law enforcement, those are not abstract comments or political slogans to me. As a lawyer and citizen, I care deeply about our Constitution and the rights that make us free," she said.

Leahy also used his time to bring up former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan's praise of Jackson. Jackson's brother-in-law is married to Ryan's sister-in-law.

"That's powerful praise. And I think it goes to a fundamental point -- one doesn't have to have the same political beliefs or ideology as a judicial nominee to recognize their integrity or intellect," Leahy said.

Mar 22, 2022, 10:38 AM EDT

Jackson stresses her record as an 'independent jurist'

As she reintroduces herself to the American public as well as the Senate Judiciary Committee, Ranking Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, asked Jackson what aspect of her record as a judge does she believe has been the most important for the good of the country.

"Well, I think that all of my record is important to some degree because I think it clearly demonstrates that I'm an independent jurist, that I am ruling in every case consistent with the methodologies that I've described, that I'm impartial," Jackson said.

Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, March 22, 2022, in Washington, D.C.
Evan Vucci/AP

"I don't think anyone could look at my record and say that it is pointing in one direction or another or that it is supporting one viewpoint or another. I am doing the work and have done the work for the past 10 years that judges do to rule impartially and to stay within the boundaries of our proper judicial role," she added.

Trying to home in further on her judicial philosophy, Grassley asked, of the previous 115 justices, are there any of them now or in the past that has a judicial philosophy that most closely resembles her own. She said she hasn't studied the philosophies of all of the prior justices but that her background as a trial judge resembles that of left-leaning Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson testifies on her nomination to become an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C, March 22, 2022.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

"I will say that I come to this position, to this moment as a judge who comes from practice -- that I was a trial judge and my methodology has developed in this context. I don't know how many other justices other than Justice Sotomayor have that same background," she said.

Jackson has also emphasized in previous confirmations hearings that she does not have a judicial philosophy per se, but she applies the same methodology to all the cases she approaches, regardless of its parties.

-ABC News' Trish Turner

Mar 22, 2022, 10:14 AM EDT

Grassley grills Jackson on 'court-packing'

Ranking Member Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, tried to get more clarity on whether Judge Jackson would support the idea of expanding the Supreme Court beyond nine justices, but Jackson said that was a policy question she couldn't answer.

The question comes after several Republicans said Monday they were disappointed that Jackson hasn't clarified her position on court-packing after she received the support of the progressive group Demand Justice, which is pushing for the court's expansion.

Sen. Chuck Grassley questions Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., March 22, 2022.
Andrew Harnik/AP

"Respectfully, senator, other nominees to the Supreme Court have responded as I will, which is that it is a policy question for Congress," Jackson said. "I am particularly mindful of not speaking to policy issues because I am so committed to staying in my lane of the system. Because I'm just not willing to speak to issues that are properly in the province of this body."

Presented with the fact that retiring Justice Stephen Breyer and the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stated their views on the position, Grassley then asked if the Supreme Court has been bought by dark money groups.

"Senator, I don't have any reason to believe that that's the case," she replied. "I have only the highest esteem for the members of the Supreme Court whom I hope to be able to join, if I'm confirmed, and for all of the members of the judiciary."

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

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