Sen. Roy Blunt says he will not vote for President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson, to be confirmed to the nation’s highest court.
During an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” Blunt, a retiring Missouri Republican considered a potential swing vote, said that although he believed Jackson was qualified, he had reservations about her judicial philosophy.
“Initially, my sense is that the president certainly had every good intention and every right in the campaign to talk about putting the first Black woman on the court,” Blunt told “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday. “I think it’s time for that to happen. I was hoping that I could be part of that.”
The GOP senator continued, “I think she’s got a great personality. I think she will be a good colleague on the court. But the judicial philosophy seems to be not the philosophy of looking at what the law says and the Constitution says and applying that but going through some method that allows you to try to look at the Constitution as a more flexible document, and even the law. And there are cases that show that that’s her view.”
Blunt added that even though he will vote “no” on Jackson’s confirmation, he believes she will be confirmed and recognizes the significance of this milestone. “I won’t be supporting her, but I’ll be joining others in understanding the importance of this moment,” he told Stephanopoulos.
In February, President Biden nominated Jackson to the Supreme Court after Justice Stephen Breyer indicated that he would step down at the end of the current term. The Senate Judiciary Committee, which consists of 22 members, is expected to vote to advance Jackson’s nomination on Monday. However, the full Senate has yet to schedule the final vote.
Judge Jackson is expected to be confirmed to the Supreme Court with at least one Republican vote as Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) announced last week that she would vote for her confirmation.