Without the support of Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, the Senate Judiciary Committee moved Ketanji Brown Jackson one step closer to being the first Black woman nominated to the nation’s high court.
The committee voted along party lines, 11-11, on Jackson's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. The full Senate will vote later Monday to discharge Jackson from the committee. If discharged, Jackson would face a full vote from the Senate later this week.
In a lengthy statement prior to the vote, Sasse said he was “sadly unable to vote for this confirmation.” He said Judge Jackson has impeccable credentials and a deep knowledge of the law.
The hang-up for Sasse is that Jackson refuses to claim a judicial philosophy – like originalism, which basically means law should be understood at the time it was written. He went on to say in the statement the confirmation process is broken because of its publicity.
“Senators should have made fewer speeches, and Judge Jackson should have made her judicial philosophy clear and understandable to the American people," Sasse said. "Unfortunately, neither of those things happened.”
Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska also said in a statement on Monday she will not support Jackson's nomination if the vote reaches the full Senate.
“I appreciated Judge Jackson’s time during my personal meeting with her, but she was not clear about her own judicial philosophy in our conversation," Fischer said.