Republican Graham says he will oppose judge Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination
A senior Republican says confirming the first black woman nominated to America’s Supreme Court is ‘a bridge too far’.
Senior Republican senator Lindsey Graham will oppose the nomination of judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, dealing a blow to Democrats’ effort to win more bipartisan support for the pick.
“I know now why Judge Jackson was the favourite of the radical left and I will vote no,” he said in a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday, citing the confirmation hearings last week and a deeper review of her record.
“To my Democratic colleagues, I’ll work with you when I can, but this is a bridge too far,” the South Carolina senator said.
Senator Graham criticised Judge Jackson for her work as a public defender representing Guantanamo Bay detainees, accused her of judicial activism in her rulings on immigration and complained her sentences in child-pornography cases were too lenient.
Senator Graham, a member of the Senate judiciary committee, was one of three Republicans who voted last year with all 50 senators who caucus with Democrats to confirm Judge Jackson to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The other two Republican senators were Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. Senator Collins on Wednesday became the first GOP senator to announce she would support Judge Jackson.
Democrats said Senator Graham and other Republicans have distorted Judge Jackson’s record in order to justify opposition to the first black woman nominated to the Supreme Court for partisan reasons.
“These charges that somehow she’s soft on crime because she’s an African American woman and she was a public defender, belie her actual record,” said Democrat senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, in a speech following Senator Graham’s announcement. “We should all be judged on our records.”
Judge Jackson’s nomination is now likely to deadlock in the judiciary committee on Monday. But under Senate rules, Democrat majority leader Chuck Schumer can hold a vote later that day to discharge her nomination from the committee by simple majority.
That means Judge Jackson remains on track for confirmation next week, also by a simple majority vote, in the 50-50 Senate.
Senator Graham’s opposition marks a significant shift, as he has long prided himself on voting for Supreme Court nominees picked by a president of the opposite party.
He had voted for both Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, Democrat president Barack Obama’s two picks.
Senator Graham was critical of Judge Jackson, 51, during her confirmation hearings, aggressively questioning her record on sentencing, immigration and Guantanamo detainees.
He also told Democrats he was angry over what he called their unfair treatment of Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett in earlier confirmation proceedings.
A review of Judge Jackson’s record on child-pornography cases shows that her sentences generally fell below the sentencing guidelines, but were in line with the records of other judges appointed by members of both parties.
A report published by the US Sentencing Commission last year found that federal judges across the country typically issue sentences below federal guidelines in so-called non-production cases involving possession or distribution of child pornography.
Senator Graham also has said he was unhappy that Mr Biden nominated Judge Jackson instead of federal district judge Michelle Childs of South Carolina, who is also a black American and an Obama appointee whom the veteran senator had publicly championed.
He attributed Mr Biden’s decision to pressure from progressive groups that he said wanted Judge Jackson instead, and he said that raised concerns for him about the nominee.
“The fact that so many of these left-wing radical groups that would destroy the law as we know it declared war on Michelle Childs and supported you is problematic for me,” he told Judge Jackson in the confirmation hearings last month.
In December, before Justice Stephen Breyer, 83, announced his retirement plans, Mr Biden nominated Judge Childs to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the court where Judge Jackson sits. The nomination of Judge Childs is pending before the Senate judiciary committee.
Other Republicans considered possible votes for Judge Jackson include Senator Murkowski as well as Mitt Romney of Utah. Senator Murkowski said this week that she wants to talk to Judge Jackson again, and Senator Romney said he is unlikely to announce his decision until the day of the vote.
The Wall Street Journal
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