Source: Politics<\/p>\n
President Biden\u2019s Supreme Court nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson, will hold her first meetings with senators on Wednesday, including the Republican minority leader and the two top senators on the Judiciary Committee.<\/p>\n
In addition to meeting with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday, Jackson plans to meet with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told POLITICO on Monday. She will also meet with the chair and ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee: Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).<\/p>\n
\u201cLast week the President announced an extraordinarily qualified nominee in the mold of Justice Breyer, with a record of deep experience across our justice system and a demonstrated commitment to the Constitution and the rule of law,\u201d said Bates. \u201cJudge Jackson went to work immediately, doing prep on Saturday and Sunday, and she\u2019s looking forward to her first meetings with senators of both parties.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jackson will be joined on Wednesday by her \u201csherpa\u201d for the confirmation process, former Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.). Schumer has said he hopes to have Jackson confirmed by the Senate\u2019s Easter break.<\/p>\n
Bates noted that Jackson was quickly praised by legal experts, former House Speaker (and distant relative) Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the Fraternal Order of Police, and retired D.C. Circuit Judge Thomas Griffith, who was appointed by President George W. Bush.<\/p>\n
Still, few Senate Republicans are expected to vote for Jackson but Biden and his White House staff have repeatedly stressed that they are pushing for bipartisan support for the current federal circuit court judge. Three Republicans \u2014 Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska \u2014 voted for Jackson\u2019s confirmation to her current post on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Shortly after her nomination, Graham attacked the pick as a win for \u201cthe radical left.\u201d<\/p>\n
When in the majority in 2016, Republican Senators refused to meet with Barack Obama\u2019s nominee for the court, Merrick Garland, citing the proximity of the presidential election.<\/p>\n
Biden nominated Jackson to the lifetime appointment on Friday, touting her clerkship for Justice Stephen Breyer<\/a> and her experience as a public defender and on the United States Sentencing Commission.<\/p>\n \u201cNot only did she learn about being a judge from Justice Breyer himself, she saw the great rigor through which Justice Breyer approached his work,\u201d Biden said Friday. \u201cShe learned from his willingness to work with colleagues with different viewpoints. Now years later, she steps up to fill Justice Breyer\u2019s place in the court with a uniquely accomplished and wide ranging background.\u201d<\/p>\n