Roy Blunt to vote against Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation to U.S. Supreme Court

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Missouri U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt will join nearly all of his Republican colleagues in voting against Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court, he said Sunday.

The state's senior senator, who is not running for re-election, told ABC's This Week that he couldn't support President Joe Biden's high court nominee, who would be the first Black woman to serve on the bench.

Jackson is "certainly qualified" to serve, Blunt said, but he takes issue with Jackson's "judicial philosophy," which he believes "allows you to try to look at the constitution as a more flexible document and even the law."

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"I think she's certainly going to be confirmed," Blunt said. "I think it'll be a high point for the country to see her go on the court and take her unique perspective to the court.

"But I don't think she's the kind of judge that will really do the kind of work that I think needs to be done by the court and I won't be supporting her, but I'll be joining others in understanding the importance of this moment."

U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri meets with U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri meets with U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Republicans in the Senate are in lockstep opposing Jackson's confirmation, with one exception — U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who says she will vote in favor. Democrats, who control the Senate by one vote, will vote for Jackson.

The Senate Judiciary Committee met Monday to debate Jackson's nomination and take a vote. The 22-person bipartisan panel is expected to be deadlocked, but Senate rules allow the committee to send the matter before the full chamber regardless. A final vote is expected this week.

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Vote follows Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearings

The final decisions by Blunt and other senators come after contentious four-day confirmation hearings for Jackson, a onetime public defender and current appeals court judge. One major line of inquiry was led by Missouri's junior senator Josh Hawley, who accused Jackson of being too lenient on the sentencing of those convicted of child pornography charges.

Those accusations, which major news outlets' fact-checkers and conservative legal analysts have characterized as misleading, were called an "embarrassing QAnon-signaling smear" by the White House.

While Hawley previously opposed Jackson's appointment to an appeals court last year (and has done the same for all of Biden's other judicial nominees), Blunt has been more amenable to the administration's appointments. He did not vote in Jackson's appeals court confirmation, but has been among the most willing of Republican senators to vote alongside Biden's cabinet nominations and other priorities. Hawley has voted "with" Biden the least of any U.S. senator.

Galen Bacharier covers Missouri politics & government for the News-Leader. Contact him at gbacharier@news-leader.com, (573) 219-7440 or on Twitter @galenbacharier.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Roy Blunt to vote 'no' on Ketanji Brown Jackson's SCOTUS confirmation