Trending
CHARLESTON - U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin said Friday that he will back federal Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court, all but securing her seat on the bench as the high court's first black woman justice.
Manchin, D-W.Va., released a statement Friday morning, expressing his support for Jackson, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
President Joe Biden nominated Jackson to succeed Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court last month after Breyer announced his intentions to retire.
"After meeting with (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," Manchin said.
Jackson just wrapped up three days of questioning by the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Republican senators went over her judicial history and legal philosophies. Questions were raised about her leniency on several cases involving sexual abuse and whether the former federal public defender was soft on crime.
Jackson is a graduate of Harvard University's law school and once clerked for Breyer, who announced his retirement in January after 27 years on the Supreme Court. She has experience as an attorney in private practice, though most of her career has been as an assistant federal public defender. Former president Barack Obama appointed Jackson to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, where she became vice chair.
The Senate has confirmed Jackson before. In 2013, Jackson was appointed by Obama for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Last year, the Senate confirmed Jackson's appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals by Biden.
"Her wide array of experiences in varying sectors of our judicial system have provided Judge Jackson a unique perspective that will serve her well on our nation's highest court," Manchin said. "On top of her impressive resume, she has the temperament to make an exceptional jurist … I am confident Judge Jackson is supremely qualified and has the disposition necessary to serve as our nation's next Supreme Court Justice."
Manchin's support means that Jackson is expected to have the majority vote to clinch the Senate's consent for Biden's nominee, though it is possible that Jackson will pick up one or two moderate Republican votes as well. Judicial confirmation votes require a simple majority, which Senate Democrats have with Vice President Kamala Harris' tiebreaking vote. Both Manchin and Capito have met one-on-one with Jackson over the last several weeks.
During a virtual press briefing Thursday, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., had not decided which way she would vote, though Capito did vote against her federal court confirmation last June.
"Right now, I remain open-minded until the testimonies are completed and then I'll make my judgments on her nomination," Capito said.
(Adams can be contacted at sadams@newsandsentinel.com)