Mitt Romney will vote to nominate Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court despite voting against her last year



Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah said that he would vote in favor of confirming Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Romney posted a statement to his Twitter account on Monday after the nomination moved from the Judiciary Committee to a vote from the full U.S. Senate after a deadlock partisan vote.

"After reviewing Judge Jackson's record and testimony, I have concluded that she is a well-qualified jurist and a person of honor. While I do not expect to agree with every decision she may make on the Court, I believe that she more than meets the standard of excellence and integrity," said Romney.

"I congratulate Judge Jackson on her expected confirmation and look forward to her continued service to our nation," he added.

Romney was criticized last week when he said he was undecided on Jackson's nomination despite having voted against her nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit last year. He explained that he would make a "much deeper dive" into her judicial opinions and judicial philosophy than what he did previously.

Romney's support for Jackson's nomination means she will more than likely be elevated to the Supreme Court since two other Republicans have already said they support her nomination: Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine.

In her statement about the nomination, Collins touted Jackson's "sterling academic and professional credentials" despite saying she would very likely disagree with some of Jackson's opinions.

President Joe Biden nominated Jackson to fill the seat that will be vacant after the retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer later this year.

She is expected to be confirmed by the end of the week and become the first female African-American U.S. Supreme Court justice.

Here's more about Jackson's nomination:

Senate panel deadlocks on Jackson; confirmation on trackwww.youtube.com

Ketanji Brown Jackson nomination gets partisan deadlock in judiciary committee and moves on to full vote in Senate



A vote in the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee resulted in a partisan deadlock over the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court on Monday.

The decision will fall to a full vote in the U.S. Senate where only a simple majority of 51 votes is needed to move her confirmation forward.

All eleven Republicans voted against her nomination while all eleven Democrats voted for her nomination. The vote was the first tie for a Supreme Court nomination by the panel since 1991.

Republicans have pummeled Jackson during the Senate committee hearings on what they saw as leniency in cases involving child sex pornography. Democrats have openly accused Republicans of being motivated by racism in their criticism of Jackson, who would be the first female African-American member of the Supreme Court in history.

Many on the right also hammered away at Jackson after she said in an exchange with Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) that she was unable to "define" what a woman is because she was not a biologist.

Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska called Brown an "extraordinary person with an extraordinary American story," but said he could not vote for her because she "refused to claim any judicial philosophy" during her testimony.

"Although she explained originalism and textualism in some detail to the committee, Judge Jackson refused to embrace them or any other precise system of limits on the judicial role," Sasse explained.

Liberals reacted predictably to the news that all Republicans in the committee voted against Brown's nomination by accusing them of racism.

"Let’s be clear: no Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson not because she isn’t highly qualified (she is) or a lack of character (no) but because their base doesn’t want a Black woman with her views on SCOTUS," responded transgender activist Charlotte Clymer.

President Joe Biden nominated Brown to fill the seat to be vacated by Justice Stephen Breyer who will be retiring from the Supreme Court later this year.

Here's more about the nomination of Brown:

Senate committee deadlocks on sending Ketanji Brown Jackson's nomination to full votewww.youtube.com

Ted Cruz GRILLS Ketanji Brown Jackson on CRT. Twitter reacts: 'That's racist'



During Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) grilled Jackson about her views on critical race theory.

Jackson first denied ever having studied critical race theory and claimed it “doesn’t come up in the work that I do as a judge.”

"I've never studied critical race theory, and I've never used it. It doesn't come up in the work that I do as a judge," Jackson stated.

"With respect, I find that a curious statement," Cruz responded. He then read a quote from her saying that critical race theory is, in fact, part of her work as judge during a speech at the University of Chicago in 2015.

"[S]entencing is just plain interesting ... because it melds together myriad types of of law — criminal law ... constitutional law, [and] critical race theory ..." read Jackson's quote, according to Cruz.

"You described, in a speech to a law school, what you were doing as critical race theory," Cruz said. "So, I guess I would ask, what did you mean by that?"

Jackson said she was not talking about "sentencing" in her quote, but "sentencing policy," and repeated that "none of that relates to what I do as a judge."


.@tedcruz grills Judge Jackson on her stance on critical race theory.pic.twitter.com/RxXV22Zr4p
— MRCTV (@MRCTV) 1647975614


Cruz then moved on to discussing Ibram X. Kendi’s children’s book, “Antiracist Baby.” Jackson is on the Board of Trustees at Georgetown Day School — a private school in Washington, D.C. — that Cruz claims assigns Kendi's book to students as young as four years old.

Not \u201cin the library.\u201d ASSIGNED to kids aged 4-7.https://twitter.com/forbes/status/1506347875428614145\u00a0\u2026
— Ted Cruz (@Ted Cruz) 1647976978

Pointing out that in “Antiracist Baby” Kendi says children should confess when being racist, Cruz asked Jackson, “Do you agree with this book that’s being taught with kids that babies are racist?"

After a long pause, Jackson answered, “I do not believe that any child should be made to feel as though they are racist, or as though they are not valued, or that they are less than, that they are victims, that they are oppressors. I don’t believe in any of that.”

Quite a few folks on Twitter took exception to Cruz's line of questioning:

The libs: You can't talk about critical race theory outside of a legal context.\n\nCruz: OK, I'll ask a Supreme Court nominee about critical race theory.\n\nThe libs: No, that's racist.\n\nShould Cruz ask her about her high school yearbook?https://twitter.com/JordanUhl/status/1506344710176219151\u00a0\u2026
— Max (@Max) 1647979902


Right? How dare he ask her about an actual legal theory. And clearly, Republicans only ask black people about CRT. Not like it was at the center of the VA governor's race between two white dudes.https://twitter.com/JRubinBlogger/status/1506357317671043081\u00a0\u2026
— Bonchie (@Bonchie) 1647979610

Others took issue with Jackson's answers:

Ketanji Brown Jackson told @tedcruz she has "never studied critical race theory," but she has cited the founder of critical race theory, Derrick Bell, and endorsed its core concepts, including white privilege and intersectionality, in her speeches.\n\nShe is lying.pic.twitter.com/GPcrDdJlCQ
— Christopher F. Rufo \u2694\ufe0f (@Christopher F. Rufo \u2694\ufe0f) 1647979246

Lindsey Graham reminds Democrats of their hypocrisy on minority nominees during Ketanji Brown Jackson hearing



South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) on Monday said that accusations of racism won't deter Republicans from asking Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson hard questions, reminding Democrats of their hypocrisy when it comes to minority nominees.

Graham promised that the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for President Joe Biden's Supreme Court nominee "won't be a circus," unlike the confirmation hearings for Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, and other qualified conservative judicial nominees.

Republicans are still bitter about how Democrats acted during those hearings, as was evident from their comments during opening statements. Graham made a point to remind Democrats how they've mistreated Republican nominees before, including minorities, and said that Jackson, who if confirmed would be the first black woman to serve on the Supreme Court, will not face similar treatment.

He said, for instance, that the hearing was already "off to a good start," since the proceedings were courteous, unlike the 2018 Kavanaugh hearing, when "Chairman Grassley couldn't get the first word out of his mouth before they shut down the place." Graham was referring to how then-Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) repeatedly interrupted Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) during his opening remarks, infuriating Republicans.

"Most of us couldn't go back to our offices during Kavanaugh without getting spit on," Graham said. "Hope that doesn't happen to y'all. I don't think it will."

Anticipating that the left will accuse Republicans opposed to Jackson's nomination of being racist, Graham said that before he gets "lectured" by Democrats, "I remember Janice Rodgers Brown, an African-American woman, that was filibustered by the same people praising [Jackson]."

"I remember Miguel Estrada, one of the finest people I ever met, completely wiped out," Graham said.

Estrada, a Honduran-American, was nominated by President George W. Bush to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Though he had majority support in the Senate, Democrats filibustered his nomination in 2002, preventing him from receiving a confirmation vote. Brown was a 2003 Bush nominee for the same court, but then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) and other Democrats filibustered her nomination, though she was later confirmed in 2005.

"If you're a Hispanic or African-American conservative, it's about your philosophy. Now it's gonna be about the historic nature of the pick," he continued. Rejecting that framing, he told Jackson she will face "hard questions" about her judicial philosophy and accusations that Republicans are being "racist" are "not going to fly with us."

"We're used to it by now," Graham said.

.@LindseyGrahamSC at Ketanji Brown Jackson confirmation hearing:\n\n"I remember Janice Rodgers Brown, an African-American woman, that was filibustered by the same people praising you.\u201dpic.twitter.com/8gq3AFmWH8
— TheBlaze (@TheBlaze) 1647879300

Among those hard questions will be why "people on the left, the far extreme part of the left, believe you were the best bet," Graham told Jackson. He brought up how the left-leaning dark money group Arabella Advisors ran ads campaigning for Jackson over Michelle Childs, a federal judge in South Carolina who was also considered by Biden for the Supreme Court nomination.

"The attacks from the left against Judge Childs was really pretty vicious, to be honest with you. So you say, Judge Jackson, you don't have any judicial philosophy per se. Well, somebody on the left believes you do, or they wouldn't have spent the money they spent to have you in this chair."

Graham also said that Republicans will ask about her sentencing practices as a district court judge, her legal views, and the far-left groups that support her nomination.

But in contrast to Democrats during the Kavanaugh hearing, there will be tactics Republicans won't use. "You will not be vilified. You will not be attacked for your religious views. You will not be accused of something that you could not defend yourself against until it was too late," Graham said.

Sen. @LindseyGrahamSC to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson: "You will not be vilified. You will not be attacked for your religious views. You will not be accused of something that you could not defend yourself against until it was too late." #SCOTUSpic.twitter.com/h04r8rhEva
— CSPAN (@CSPAN) 1647878958