Manchin to support Jackson's SCOTUS nomination, effectively ensuring she will be confirmed
Moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) said Friday he plans to vote in support of President Biden's controversial Supreme Court nominee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, all but ensuring she will be confirmed to the nation's top court.
In a statement posted to Twitter, Manchin said, "I met with Judge Jackson and evaluated her qualifications to be a Supreme Court Justice. After meeting with her, considering her record, and closely monitoring her testimony and questioning before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week, I have determined I intend to vote for her nomination to serve on the Supreme Court."
After meeting with Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, considering her record, and closely monitoring her testimony and questioning before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week, I have determined I intend to vote for her nomination to serve on the Supreme Court. My full statement:pic.twitter.com/SUgwuBtHup— Senator Joe Manchin (@Senator Joe Manchin) 1648215813
The senator also made note of Jackson's "exemplary" and "impressive" resume and said her "wide array of experiences" in varying sectors of the judicial system have given her a "unique perspective" that will serve the court well.
Jackson currently sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. She is a graduate of Harvard University with nine years of experience as a federal judge. She has also served as a public defender and a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
Manchin is perhaps the most closely watched senator in the chamber, as his vote often sways the evenly divided body one way or the other. His affirmative vote for Jackson, though unsurprising, likely guarantees that she will pass through confirmation and soon replace outgoing Justice Stephen Breyer on the bench.
According to CNN, Democrats in the chamber hope to move quickly by holding a confirmation vote by early next month. The party can confirm Jackson without any Republican votes so long as every Democratic member supports her nomination and Vice President Kamala Harris votes to break a 50-50 tie.
It remains unclear whether Jackson will receive any votes from Republican members of the chamber. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced this week that he would oppose Jackson's nomination.
During confirmation hearings, Republicans have primarily confronted Jackson about her controversial sentencing of a convicted child pornographer to just three months in prison. In the case, Jackson made sympathetic comments about the defendant and his family and said she did not believe he was a pedophile.
But Jackson also raised eyebrows across the country this week when she amazingly refused to define the word "woman," claiming she is "not a biologist." The remarks immediately drew ire from conservatives and were considered especially absurd given the fact that Jackson's own womanhood was a primary factor in her own nomination.
Breyer has been considered to be one of three liberal justices on the bench, and so the court's ideological makeup will remain intact with Jackson's confirmation. Conservatives are assumed to currently hold a 6-3 majority.
Lindsey Graham shocks GOP when he caves to identity politics: 'You're becoming irrelevant, Lindsey Graham'
On “The Rubin Report,” BlazeTV host Dave Rubin ripped into Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina for caving to identity politics.
Dave shared a clip from CBS' "Face the Nation" in which Graham says that he supports President Joe Biden’s decision to only pick a black woman as a Supreme Court nominee.
"Whether you like it or not, Joe Biden said, I'm going to pick an African-American woman to serve on the Supreme Court. I believe there are plenty of qualified African-American women, conservative and liberal, that could go onto the court. So I don't concede — I don't see Michelle Childs as an act of affirmative action. I do see putting a black woman on the court, making the court more like America. In the history of our country, we've only had five women serve and two African-American men, so let's make the court more like America," Graham said.
"Sorry, Lindsey Graham, you're exactly the type of politician that we don't need any more," Dave responded. "We don't need that pandering drivel. Nobody is saying that there aren't thousands ... probably hundreds of thousands of qualified black women to sit on the Supreme Court ... but as a marker, as the original starting point ... will just be black women, not that you're not going to pick the best person because the best person might be a black woman, well, first, it's against the law. It's against the law to hire based on skin color and gender. That's number one, a law by the way that had a little something to do with the Supreme Court in the first place. But also, this pandering drivel, that's why you're becoming irrelevant, Lindsey Graham."
"Why not a Native American woman? Why not an Indian woman?" he continued. "Why not an Asian woman? Are there any Chinese-American Supreme Court justices? Korean Supreme Court justices? No? Why do [Democrats] keep going to that group of people? Could it be because they're the ones that basically ... want to endlessly bribe [black Americans] so that they'll keep voting for [Democrats] because otherwise none of [their] policies actually work? And Lindsey Graham, you're now part of it. You're part of this ... neo-racism."
Watch the video clip below or find more episodes of "The Rubin Report" here:
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