U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said Ketanji Brown Jackson has “what I want to see in a judge” after meeting with President Joe Biden’s nominee for the Supreme Court for more than 90 minutes on Tuesday.
The Maine senator is on a short list of Republicans who have indicated openness to voting for Biden’s nominee. Collins said last month that the one-on-one meeting with the prospective justice was the “most important” factor for her decision, though she said she will hold off on a final decision until after Jackson’s confirmation hearing.
Jackson, a former public defender, would be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. She currently serves as an appeals court judge for the D.C. circuit, a position that Collins and two other Republicans joined all 50 Democratic senators in confirming her to last year.
Collins told reporters in Washington that the conversation with Jackson went well and said she trusted the committee overseeing her hearings would be “thorough and fair.” She noted that she had not agreed with every decision Jackson had rendered, noting they discussed one case where the judge’s ruling had been overturned by a higher court.
“But I felt that what I did get from her is that she takes a very thorough, careful approach in applying the law to the facts of the case,” Collins said. “And that is what I want to see in a judge.”
Collins’ past meetings with potential Supreme Court justices have provided some insight on how she would vote, although Tuesday’s meeting was not met with the same high-stakes attention as the past several confirmations have seen. Biden’s pick will be replacing liberal Justice Stephen Breyer on the court controlled by a 6-3 conservative majority.
When liberal activists targeted the Maine senator ahead of Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation citing concerns about his rulings on reproductive rights, Collins noted that Kavanaugh had told her he considered the landmark Roe v. Wade decision “settled precedent.” Collins voted to confirm him, setting off a huge Democratic campaign against her in 2020.
The Maine senator did not meet with Justice Amy Coney Barrett ahead of her confirmation in 2020, instead saying that she would not vote to confirm Barrett because it was too close to the presidential election.