(DCWatchdog.com) – Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who previously voted for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation to the D.C. Court of Appeals, has confirmed she would vote for her again.
Collins has now become the first Republican to voice support for Jackson, saying that she decided “After reviewing Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s extensive record.” The Maine Republican added that she decided to back Jackson after “watching much of her hearing testimony, and meeting with her twice in person.”
Collins continued, saying Jackson “possesses the experience, qualifications, and integrity to serve as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court,” adding that this was the reason she would “vote to confirm her statement to this position.”
Since Biden announced he would be nominating Jackson, Collins has had two private meetings, noting their discussions included in-depth issues “raised in her hearing” and areas where they disagreed.
In her statement, Collins acknowledged that if Jackson is appointed to the Supreme Court, there will be areas they disagree, but stated, “That alone, however, is not disqualifying.”
The Maine Republican revealed she had applied that same logic to the six justices she voted for in the past.
So far, Collins remains the only Republican to voice support for Jackson, despite two other Republican Senators — Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina — voting to confirm her to the D.C. Court of Appeals.
With Collins’ support, the vote would also be bipartisan, which wasn’t the case when Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the most recent addition to the court, was confirmed.
The bipartisan support did not go unnoticed, with White House chief of staff Ron Klain thanking Collins for her support on Twitter.
The Maine Republican also criticized the confirmation process, saying in her statement, “No matter where you fall on the ideological spectrum, anyone who has watched several of the last Supreme Court confirmation hearings would conclude that the process is broken.”
Collins blamed the “broken” process on the confirmation hearings moving “away from what I believe to be appropriate for evaluating a Supreme Court nominee.”
She emphasized that the role of the Senate is to “examine the experience, qualifications, and integrity of the nominee,” adding that it is “not to assess whether a nominee reflects the ideology of an individual Senator or would rule exactly as an individual Senator would want.”
