Towards the end of Thursday’s Inside Politics on CNN, host John King and chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju lamented that Republicans are not lining up to vote for Ketanji Brown Jackson amid her “historic nomination” to the Supreme Court.
King got the ball rolling, suggesting that if a handful of Republicans were willing to vote for her to be on the D.C. circuit, then they should be willing to vote for her for the Supreme Court: “Democrats are impressed but winning support from Republicans who in the past voted to confirm her to lower jobs, still an open question.”
Tossing the conversation over to Raju, King wondered “Manu, the Democrats say this is great, she's great, she's smart, but what about the Republicans?”
Raju declared the answer to be somewhat irrelevant since Jackson will almost certainly get all 50 Democrats, but still argued:
...but will even those three Republicans who voted to confirm her to the D.C. Circuit be onboard? That is still uncertain. One of them, Susan Collins has indicated that she's probably going to support Ketanji Brown Jackson, another one Lindsey Graham seems like he may be going the opposite direction. And the third one, Lisa Murkowski, she is undecided. She’s also up for re-election in a year in which a Trump-backed challenger’s going after her on the judicial issue.
Using Murkowski’s undecidedness as a backdrop, Raju lamented “this really underscores that even though this is a historic nomination, the first black woman ever to serve on the court if confirmed, getting more than a handful of Republicans votes at this point seems unlikely just given how partisan the Supreme Court fights have become.”
After decades of Democrats politicizing Court nominations going all the way back to Robert Bork, CNN waited until a Democratic appointee to lament that the general partisan nature of the process.
This segment was sponsored by Liberty Mutual.
Here is a transcript for the March 10 show:
CNN Inside Politics with John King
3/10/2022
12:57 PM ET
JOHN KING: President Biden's Supreme Court nominee, appeals court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson making the rounds on Capitol Hill, meetings with key senators. Democrats are impressed but winning support from Republicans who in the past voted to confirm her to lower jobs, still an open question. Let’s get up to our chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju. Manu, the Democrats say this is great, she's great, she's smart, but what about the Republicans?
MANU RAJU: They're really not there yet. It's really uncertain how many Republicans ultimately will vote for her. They don’t, she doesn’t need Republicans to get confirmed. She almost certainly will have all 50 Democrats onboard, but will even those three Republicans who voted to confirm her to the D.C. Circuit be onboard? That is still uncertain. One of them, Susan Collins has indicated that she's probably going to support Ketanji Brown Jackson, another one Lindsey Graham seems like he may be going the opposite direction. And the third one, Lisa Murkowski, she is undecided. She’s also up for re-election in a year in which a Trump-backed challenger’s going after her on the judicial issue. She has supported, Lisa Murkowski has, 37 of Joe Biden's lower court nominees, but she told me that she’s not there yet on this.
She says even though she voted before for the D.C. Circuit, the second most important court in the country, she said this is a completely quote, “different game.” And she says she wanted to watch the hearings, evaluate happens here, but John, this really underscores that even though this is a historic nomination, the first black woman ever to serve on the court if confirmed, getting more than a handful of Republicans votes at this point seems unlikely just given how partisan the Supreme Court fights have become.
