Sen. Lindsey Graham says he will vote against SCOTUS nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson

CHARLESTON, S.C. — U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said he will not vote for Judge Kentanji Brown Jackson to serve on the Supreme Court, denying President Joe Biden of another Republican vote for his historic nominee who will likely be confirmed as the first Black woman to serve on the nation’s highest court.

Graham, a key Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who was one of three GOP lawmakers who voted for Jackson’s confirmation to the D.C. Circuit less than a year ago, said in a Senate floor speech Thursday that he could not support her lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, calling her “a favorite of the radical left.”

“Her record is overwhelming in its lack of a steady judicial philosophy and a tendency to achieve outcomes in spite of what the law requires or common sense would dictate,” Graham said. “After a thorough review of Judge Jackson’s record and information gained at the hearing from an evasive witness, I now know why Judge Jackson was the favorite of the radical left.”

Graham’s opposition is unlikely to stop Jackson from becoming the first Black woman to serve as a Supreme Court justice.

Democrats hold a majority in the upper chamber owing to Vice President Kamala Harris’ tiebreaking vote and are expected to confirm Jackson, especially after West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin last week announced his plans to vote for her. Additionally, on Wednesday Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said she would vote to confirm Jackson, becoming the first GOP lawmaker to do so.