WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court pick, Ketanji Brown Jackson, visited Capitol Hill on Wednesday to meet with key senators and discuss her experience and qualifications ahead of her confirmation hearings.
Jackson met with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as well as Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the committee charged with reviewing the qualifications of nominees.
Durbin announced that his panel will hold confirmation hearings for Jackson from March 21 to 24 in a letter to colleagues.
"Once the Judiciary Committee completes its consideration of Judge Jackson, I will move to have her nomination come immediately to the floor of the Senate, so the Senate wastes no time fulfilling its constitutional duty," Schumer said on the Senate floor. "We are going to have a fair but expeditious process, where members from both sides will get to ask their questions and explore the judge’s record."
Durbin highlighted in remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday that Jackson would be the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court if she is confirmed, calling her nomination historic.
"This one has special historic significance," Durbin said. "In the United States’ history, our Supreme Court has had 115 Justices, 108 of those Justices have had one thing in common — they were all white men. Five of those who served on the court as justices were women. Only three have been people of color out of 115."
Biden formally announced his nomination of Jackson last week as the successor to retiring Justice Stephen Breyer. If confirmed, Jackson would not change the court’s 6-3 conservative supermajority. At 51, she would be the second-youngest justice on the current court, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett, 50, being the youngest.
Jackson has served as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia since last year. She was confirmed in a 53-44 vote in the Senate.
For the Supreme Court seat, Jackson will need a simple majority in the Senate to be confirmed.
