West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin on Friday announced he will vote to support Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, all but guaranteeing her confirmation next month, CNN reports.
"I met with Judge Jackson and evaluated her qualifications to be a Supreme Court Justice,” Manchin said in a statement. “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."
Manchin, who has repeatedly blown up Democratic plans throughout President Joe Biden’s term, was a closely watched vote during Jackson’s confirmation hearings.
Every other Democrat is expected to vote to confirm Jackson though it’s unclear whether she will receive support from Republicans.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on the nomination on April 4 followed by a full Senate vote.
McConnell leads GOP opposition:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday he would oppose Jackson’s confirmation.
"After studying the nominee's record and watching her performance this week, I cannot and will not support Judge Jackson for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court," he said in a statement.
McConnell cited his opposition to Jackson’s sentencing decisions, questions about her judicial philosophy, and suggested that she would engage in “judicial activism.”
"It's a recipe for courts to wander into policy making and prevent healthy Democratic compromise. This is the misunderstanding of the separation of powers that I've spent my entire career fighting against. ... I will vote against this nominee," he said.
How many votes?
It remains to be seen if any Republicans will vote to confirm Jackson.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, who previously voted to confirm Jackson for an appellate court seat, suggested that he plans to vote against Jackson.
Moderate Republicans Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski have not said how they plan to vote and did not take part in Jackson’s confirmation proceedings.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed by a 50-48 party-line vote and Justice Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed by a 52-48 party-line vote.
"Things have changed so dramatically over the last 10 or 20 years," Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin said. "It's so hard to really create a bipartisan unity. I hope we can on this but as you can tell, it's going to be a struggle."
