Republican Sen. Susan Collins will vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, becoming the first GOP senator to back the nominee.
WASHINGTON — Maine Sen. Susan Collins said Wednesday she will vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, giving Democrats at least one Republican vote and all but assuring that Jackson will become the first Black woman on the Supreme Court.
Her support gives Democrats at least a one-vote cushion in the 50-50 Senate and likely saves them from having to use Vice President Kamala Harris' tie-breaking vote to confirm President Joe Biden's pick. It is expected that all 50 Democrats will support Jackson, though one notable moderate Democrat, Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, hasn't yet said how she will vote.
Collins was the most likely Republican to support Jackson, and she has a history of voting for Supreme Court nominees picked by presidents of both parties. The only nominee she's voted against since her election in the mid-1990s is Justice Amy Coney Barrett in 2020.