Senators Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Susan Collins (Maine) and Mitt Romney (Utah) vehemently rejected the tactics of the more conservative colleagues in the Senate Justice Committee, who fired Jackson at the hearings confirming that she was child pornography offenders.
Murkowski told reporters she believed colleagues such as Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) And Ted Cruz (R-Texas) challenged Jackson to defend her record, although she did not name anyone. “Some were not very good,” he said. “I think there was a level of personal aggression that was unjustified.” All three centrist Republicans have expressed concern about how discussions over Supreme Court confirmation have become partisan food disputes.
Collins said she hopes her vote for the nominee will help reduce the party’s temperature in the Senate confirmation process. “I think what needs to happen is, first of all, people have to ignore groups like Demand Justice that are forcing them to vote for Supreme Court justices one way or another,” she said, referring to the progressive advocacy group pressed Judge Stephen Breyer. to withdraw and in February announced a $ 1 million advertising purchase to support Jackson’s candidacy.
“And secondly, we have to go back to what Congress clearly defines as the role of the Senate vis-του-vis the president,” said Collins, referring to her view that Congress should give the president, regardless of party, “significant consideration.” in the Supreme Court. candidates. He argued that giving the president more respect for filling the court, as the Senate did when confirming Reagan candidate Antonin Scalia 98-0 and Clinton candidate Ruth Bader Ginsburg 96-3, court over political dispute “.
Romney, who voted against Jackson’s ratification in the DC Circuit of Appeals last year, said he felt more comfortable with the idea of ​​attending the Supreme Court after meeting her in person and reviewing her record.
“I’m worried in the past that he was not part of the mainstream. During our conversation together and during the hearing, I came to the conclusion that it was. “That plus her qualifications led me to where I was,” he explained. Romney, who was elected to the Senate in 2018, said he was not exactly sure how future confirmation talks would unfold, but expressed concern about the strong partisan orientation surrounding the recent candidates. “The real question for me will be when you have a ruling party in the Senate that is different from the president, how do we fill the judiciary?” he said. “That’s why I think Senator Collins raised the issues she raised.” It’s a message the moderates want to send to leaders of both parties, including Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (DN.Y.), who helped lead the Conservative judges Brett Kavanaugh in 2018 and Amy Coney. Barrett in 2020. After Collins, Murkowski, and Romney sent a clear message that they wanted to reduce partisanship over the Supreme Court’s confirmation process, McConnell declined Tuesday to say whether he would allow President Biden to fill another vacancy in court if the Republicans regain a majority in the Senate. November.
“What I can say with great certainty is that the president who ran as a moderate and ruled like Bernie Saunders should spend the last two years of his term as a moderate,” McConnell told reporters when asked if he would he did it. Commit yourself to voting for another Biden Supreme Court nominee if he becomes the majority leader in the Senate again in 2023.
McConnell kept Scalia’s seat vacant for most of 2016 after the death of conservative justice in February of that year, refusing to give then-Presidential candidate Merrick Garland a hearing or vote.
This has raised the prospect that McConnell could play the same card again or that Sumer or a future leader of the Democratic majority could do the same to a Republican president.
Senator Lindsay Graham (RS.C.), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Monday that Republicans would not allow Jackson to join the Supreme Court if they controlled the agenda.
“If we return to the Senate and we are responsible for this body and there are judicial openings, we will talk to our colleagues on the other side. But if we were in charge, he would not be before this committee. “You would have someone more modest than that,” he said.
But moderates worry that such threats could undermine the independence and influence of the Supreme Court in the long run.
Murkowski, who will be re-elected this year, said she did not know if future presidents would be able to put new judges on the court when their party also does not control the Senate.
“Think about what this will do in court,” he said. “Think about the position that the legislature will put the judiciary in if we do not allow it to move forward.
“It would mean that you will have a court with special needs. “Remember, these are three separate but equal branches and we would be disadvantaged by one of the three because of political motives,” he said. “What happens when you have a new president and a new Senate, a new majority in the Senate and the recovery is a fair game? “Eventually you reach a place where you can not confirm justice and they do not live forever. What are we doing? Off-field murder. “We are heading to a place that I think is dangerous for the stadiums.” Murkowski, Collins and Romney, who played a key role in negotiating last year $ 1 trillion in bipartisan infrastructure, the biggest bipartisan achievement of Biden’s first year, say it is more important to look at a candidate based on rather than gaining political points by maintaining party unity.
Together with Senators Joe Manchin (DW.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), They form the “Common Sense Caucus” of the Senate, a group committed to showing that the Senate can still work at a bipartisan level. to achieve things that were done. The parliamentary group criticized the loud calls from both sides of the political spectrum to get rid of the senator’s filmmaker and turn the upper house into a body more like the House, where the majority party rules completely.
“I think we clearly had an impact on the infrastructure bill, where there were five Democrats and five Republicans who worked so hard – together more than 50 meetings – and we were able to create a bill that finally passed and represented the largest infrastructure investment by the transnational system. “Highways,” Collins said.
Deutsche Bank predicts recession in 2023 for the US Conservative group announces eight-digit advertising campaign that hits inflation Collins, Murkowski, Romney, Manchin, and Sinema are working hard to regain bipartisanship in the Senate, but they also realize that the polarizing forces in American politics are far greater than Capitol Hill’s interpersonal dynamics.
“In many ways, Congress is now reflecting an increasingly polarized America. “So I think it starts back at home with people realizing that we need to work together to identify common problems and be more respectful and polite in our dialogue.”
Jackson is expected to be confirmed by the Senate plenary later this week.