Wisconsin’s two senators are split on whether they will vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown. Jackson. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said he will not vote to confirm Jackson while Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) said she will.
Senators across the U.S. have announced their support or opposition for Jackson since Supreme Court nomination hearings ended March 24.
“The Senate is divided 50-50 between the two major parties,” University of Wisconsin political science professor Barry Burden said in an email to The Badger Herald. “Democrats need to hold everyone in their party and get a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Harris to ensure approval of the nomination.”
The vote, which was originally scheduled for April 4, has been deadlocked for the past several days by the Senate Committee. According to CNET, Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin has said that he hopes to have the vote in by April 8.
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Burden said the disagreement between the two senators is not surprising.
“Baldwin and Johnson already have the most divergent voting records of any two senators from the same state,” Burden said. “The two senators also split — in the opposite direction — on the three nominations made by former President Trump.”
In a statement, Johnson said he has “reservations” with Jackson as a nominee.
“I have always said I want to confirm judges that apply the law and not alter it to achieve ideological policy preferences,” Johnson said in the statement. “Judge Jackson is constrained in answering questions regarding issues that might come before the court, so I can only base my decision on what she said in her hearings and what my assumptions are regarding judicial appointments made by liberal Democrat Presidents.”
Burden said Johnson’s stance on Jackson will be on voters’ minds when he runs for reelection in the fall, noting that while high-profile cases dealing with abortion, voting rights and health care continue to be decided by the court, Wisconsin’s senate race will play a large role in determining whether Democrats retain their majority.
In a statement, Baldwin called Jackson “extremely well qualified and has strong experience working as a federal judge.”
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Judge Jackson has three Republican votes from U.S. Senators — Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), according to The Guardian.
So far, Jackson has the backing of all of Democratic senators, according to CNBC.
With the support of all Democrats, as well as of Senators Collins, Murkowski and Romney, Burden said Jackson will likely have no issue being voted onto the court.
