Senators weigh in on nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court

President Joe Biden fulfilled his campaign pledge to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court, announcing Ketanji Brown Jackson, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, as his pick Friday. If confirmed, the 51-year-old would replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer and become the fourth justice elevated from what many consider the nation's second-most powerful court.

Jackson's confirmation will head to an evenly divided Senate that has seen increasingly partisan battles over Supreme Court nominees in recent years. She was part of Mr. Biden's first tranche of judicial nominees, and her appointment to the D.C. Circuit was approved in a 53–44 bipartisan vote. She filled the seat vacated when Merrick Garland, himself a former Supreme Court nominee, became U.S. attorney general.

Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted with Democrats to confirm Jackson to the circuit court. Judiciary Committee member John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, voted in favor of sending her nomination to the full Senate but ultimately voted against her confirmation.