Maine Sen. Susan Collins said Wednesday she will vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, giving Democrats at least one Republican vote and all but assuring that Jackson will become the first Black woman on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Collins met with Jackson a second time after four days of hearings last week and said Wednesday that "she possesses the experience, qualifications, and integrity to serve as an associate justice on the Supreme Court."
"I will, therefore, vote to confirm her to this position," Collins said.
Collins' support gives Democrats at least a one-vote cushion in the 50-50 Senate and likely saves them from having to use Vice President Kamala Harris' tie-breaking vote to confirm President Joe Biden's pick. Senate Democratic leaders are pushing toward a Senate Judiciary Committee vote on the nomination Monday and a final Senate vote to confirm Jackson late next week.
White House chief of staff Ron Klain tweeted that he was "grateful" to Collins for "giving fair, thoughtful consideration" to Jackson and to other lower court nominees she has supported.
Jackson, who would replace retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, would be the third Black justice, after Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas, and the sixth woman. She would also be the first former public defender on the court.
It is expected that all 50 Democrats will support her, though one notable moderate Democrat, Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, hasn't yet said how she will vote.
Collins was the most likely Republican to support Jackson, and she has a history of voting for Supreme Court nominees picked by presidents of both parties, as well as other judicial nominations.
The only Supreme Court nominee she's voted against since her election in the mid-1990s is Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was nominated by then-President Donald Trump after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the weeks before Trump's election defeat to Biden in 2020. Collins, who was up for reelection that year, said she voted against Barrett because of the accelerated six-week timeline. "It's not a comment on her," Collins said of Barrett at the time.
In her statement supporting Jackson, the Maine senator said she doesn't expect that she will always agree with Jackson's decisions.
"That alone, however, is not disqualifying," Collins said. "Indeed, that statement applies to all six justices, nominated by both Republican and Democratic presidents, whom I have voted to confirm."
Collins said she believes the process is "broken" as it has become increasingly divided along party lines. When Collins first came to the Senate, Supreme Court confirmations were much more bipartisan. Breyer, who will step down this summer, was confirmed on an 87-9 vote in 1994.
"In my view, the role the Constitution clearly assigns to the Senate is to examine the experience, qualifications, and integrity of the nominee," Collins said. "It is not to assess whether a nominee reflects the ideology of an individual senator or would rule exactly as an individual senator would want."
In Jackson's hearings, several Republican senators interrogated her on sentencing decisions in her nine years as a federal judge and in child pornography cases in particular. The senators, several of whom are eyeing a run for president, asked the same questions repeatedly in an effort to paint her as too lenient on sex criminals.
Jackson told the committee that "nothing could be further from the truth" and explained her sentencing decisions in detail. She said some of the cases have given her nightmares and were "among the worst that I have seen."
Collins said that in her meetings with Jackson, "we discussed in depth several issues that were raised in her hearing. Sometimes I agreed with her; sometimes I did not."
It is unclear if any other GOP senators will vote for Jackson. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell set the tone for the party last week when he said he "cannot and will not" support her, citing the GOP concerns raised in the hearing about her sentencing record and her support from liberal advocacy groups.
Jackson is still making the rounds in the Senate ahead of next week's votes, doing customary meetings with Democratic and Republican senators. On Tuesday she met with Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who said afterward that he was undecided about supporting her.
Romney said he had an "excellent meeting" and found Jackson to be intelligent, capable and charming.
"I enjoyed our discussion a great deal," the Republican senator told reporters. "I haven't made a decision. When I do, I'll let you know. Probably not until the day of the vote."
Romney voted against Jackson last year, when she was confirmed by the Senate as a federal appeals court judge. Collins, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham were the only three Republicans to support her at the time.
Graham and Murkowski have indicated they might vote against her now. Murkowski said in a statement before the hearings that "I've been clear that previously voting to confirm an individual to a lower court does not signal how I will vote for a Supreme Court justice."
Graham was one of several Republicans on the Judiciary panel who pressed Jackson on the child pornography cases, and he has been vocal in his frustrations that Biden chose Jackson over his preferred candidate, a federal judge from South Carolina.
He also aired past grievances in the hearing, asking Jackson about her religion and how often she goes to church, in heated comments that he said were fair game after unfair criticism of Barrett's Catholicism.
------
Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Lisa Mascaro and Darlene Superville in Washington and David Sharp in Portland, Maine, contributed to this report
This story has been corrected to show Collins' statement came Wednesday, not Tuesday.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is supporting Israel's right to defend itself against Iran following last week's ballistic missile attack, saying that right includes 'proactively striking Iranian nuclear sites and oil installations to defund the terrorist regime.'
Florida's storm-battered Gulf Coast raced against a Category 5 hurricane Monday as workers sprinted to pick up heaps of appliances and other street debris left over from Helene two weeks ago and highways were clogged with people fleeing ahead of the storm.
Days after a political sign was erected outside Lululemon founder Chip Wilson's Vancouver mansion, the waterfront property has been vandalized with graffiti.
Toronto Coun. Michael Thompson 'forced himself on' a woman who awoke to find him standing over her after she fell asleep drunk, the Crown alleged Monday, as the five-day sexual assault trial of the six-term politician began in Bracebridge, Ont.
Despite Hurricane Milton evolving into a Category 5 storm, Walt Disney World Resort remains open to the public and will operate as normal. However, the park announced Monday a few closures in an abundance of caution.
A disgraced Winnipeg high school football coach convicted of sexual assault and luring will spend 20 years behind bars.
Two people are in hospital after they were chased and shot at in what appears to be an act of road rage before eventually flipping their car while trying to escape, police say.
Sammy Basso, who was the longest living survivor of the rare genetic disease progeria, has died at the age of 28, the Italian Progeria Association said on Sunday.
With prayers, protests, and a heavy police presence, Canada has marked the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel that killed about 1,200 people and triggered an ongoing war.
A disgraced Winnipeg high school football coach convicted of sexual assault and luring will spend 20 years behind bars.
Toronto Coun. Michael Thompson 'forced himself on' a woman who awoke to find him standing over her after she fell asleep drunk, the Crown alleged Monday, as the five-day sexual assault trial of the six-term politician began in Bracebridge, Ont.
Days after a political sign was erected outside Lululemon founder Chip Wilson's Vancouver mansion, the waterfront property has been vandalized with graffiti.
The day after a minivan was set ablaze outside Vancouver City Hall, a 78-year-old man has been criminally charged.
Videos of a meteor streaking across the skies of southern Ontario have surfaced and small bits of the outer space rock may have made it to land, one astronomy professor says.
Two people are in hospital after they were chased and shot at in what appears to be an act of road rage before eventually flipping their car while trying to escape, police say.
Kamala Harris called Donald Trump 'incredibly irresponsible' for spreading falsehoods about the federal response to Hurricane Helene's destruction, offering especially sharp words as a new storm bears down on Florida with just weeks until Election Day.
Palestinian militants in Gaza fired a barrage of rockets into Israel on Monday as mourners marked the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack, without disrupting a nearby ceremony. Here is the latest.
A canyoneer died in Zion National Park after falling between 150 and 200 feet near the the Upper Emerald Pool in southwest Utah, according to the National Park Service.
The mayor of a state capital in southern Mexico has been killed just one week after he took office, officials said Sunday.
Despite Hurricane Milton evolving into a Category 5 storm, Walt Disney World Resort remains open to the public and will operate as normal. However, the park announced Monday a few closures in an abundance of caution.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Monday there are 'a lot of bad genes' in the United States, while discussing murders allegedly committed by immigrants living illegally in the United States.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is supporting Israel's right to defend itself against Iran following last week's ballistic missile attack, saying that right includes 'proactively striking Iranian nuclear sites and oil installations to defund the terrorist regime.'
A newly released document shows federal cabinet ministers were warned in May 2022 that hostile states were targeting Canada's strategic interests, the integrity of Canadian institutions and democratic processes, and the ability of the public to exercise Charter-protected rights and freedoms.
Global Affairs Canada says it's chartering more flights from Lebanon this week to help Canadians leave the country as conflict escalates between Israel and Hezbollah.
Georgia's highest court reinstated a ban on nearly all abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy on Monday while it considers the U.S. state's appeal of last week's ruling by a lower court judge blocking the law.
Sammy Basso, who was the longest living survivor of the rare genetic disease progeria, has died at the age of 28, the Italian Progeria Association said on Sunday.
If your household has recently been hit by a power outage, here are ways to keep your food safe.
A spacecraft blasted off Monday to investigate the scene of a cosmic crash.
The best minds in science will be thrust from academic obscurity into the spotlight this week when the Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, and physiology or medicine are announced. However, there is no shortage of Nobel-worthy discoveries: Here are five breakthroughs that haven't resulted in a life-changing call from Stockholm — at least not yet.
Scientists announced on Thursday a milestone in neurobiological research with the mapping of the entire brain of an adult fruit fly, a feat that may provide insight into brains across the animal kingdom, including people.
The weapons supervisor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of the Western film 'Rust' pleaded guilty Monday to a separate criminal charge of carrying a gun into a licensed liquor establishment.
Cissy Houston, the mother of the late Whitney Houston and a two-time Grammy winner who performed alongside superstar musicians like Elvis Presley, and Aretha Franklin, has died. She was 91.
Federal prosecutors in Nevada have dismissed a long-dormant sex abuse case against Nathan Chasing Horse.
The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed a challenge to the construction of a massive rail-and-truck hub in the Greater Toronto Area, allowing the project to proceed.
Canada's telecommunications regulator says the country's largest cellphone carriers must take steps to make their international roaming rates more affordable.
FTX received court approval of its bankruptcy plan on Monday, which will allow it to fully repay customers using up to US$16.5 billion in assets recovered since the once-leading crypto exchange collapsed.
Gerontologist Jay Olshansky is used to backlash about his views on human longevity. Decades ago he and his coauthors predicted children, on average, would live to only age 85 — only 1 per cent to 5 per cent might survive until their 100th birthday.
'Eat more vegetables,' doctors and dietitians say over and over. But for many people, it’s hard to do, because they aren’t excited about veggies or just don’t like them.
Travelling on a budget can be stressful, but there are ways you can ensure you're getting the best deal on flights as the holiday season approaches.
The Florida Panthers handed out dozens of rings at a private ceremony commemorating last season's Stanley Cup title to players, coaches, team executives, members of the athletic training and medical staff and more.
The NCAA Division I Council is considering making a landmark change in eligibility rules this week that would allow Canadian Hockey League players to compete at U.S. colleges, the American Hockey Coaches Association executive director said Monday.
Max Pacioretty has a new home. The Toronto Maple Leafs signed the veteran forward to a one-year contract Monday after he made the team out of training camp on a professional tryout.
New data from the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) shows that even though claims for auto theft dropped in the first half of 2024 compared to their 2023 peak, the rates of reported theft remain well above those of years prior.
Tesla is recalling more than 27,000 Cybertrucks because the rearview camera image may not activate immediately after shifting into reverse, the fifth recall for the vehicle since it went on sale late last year.
A Pickering, Ont., student going to college to be a mechanic is shocked the engine in his two-year-old car will not be repaired under warranty after the dealership claimed he had been 'over-revving' the engine.
Videos of a meteor streaking across the skies of southern Ontario have surfaced and small bits of the outer space rock may have made it to land, one astronomy professor says.
A unique form of clouds made an appearance over the skies of Ottawa on Sunday evening.
Bernie Hicks, known as the ‘Batman of Amherst,’ always wanted to sit in a Batmobile until a kind stranger made it happen.
Bubi’s Awesome Eats, located on University Ave West took to social media to announce the closure on Friday.
Weeneebayko Area Health Authority and the Government of Ontario have awarded a $1.8 billion fixed-price contract to design, build and finance a new Far North hospital.
Manitobans are in cleanup mode after intense winds barreled through southern parts of the province this weekend.
Avry Wortman, 13, scored two touchdowns on Sunday during her team's win in the under 14 Greater Moncton Football Association.
A gargantuan gourd – affectionately named ‘Orangina’ by the urban gardeners who grew it in the front yard of their Vancouver home – earned the massive honour of being named B.C.’s heaviest giant pumpkin Saturday.
Chantal Kreviazuk is set to return to Winnipeg to mark a major milestone in her illustrious musical career.
Outside Rutie Mizrahi’s Vancouver home hang blue and white lights on her front porch doorway. They were put up and turned on one year ago, and haven’t been turned off since.
The man accused of stealing a Vancouver police cruiser and taking it for a joyride in a public park over the weekend has been criminally charged, authorities announced Monday.
The second phase of a planned massive tree removal in Stanley Park is on the agenda at the park board Monday night.
A man has died after being shot on Monday night in North York, say police.
Toronto’s Jewish community is coming together to mourn and is calling for allyship as it marks one year since the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel that triggered a war that is still raging on.
Two people are in hospital after they were chased and shot at in what appears to be an act of road rage before eventually flipping their car while trying to escape, police say.
Less than 48 hours after his Monterey Park townhome was gutted by a fiery explosion, Calgarian Owen DeFoe returned on Monday to see what was left.
Two meat stores and one restaurant have reopened after being closed by AHS. The stores were accused of selling uninspected meat -- a claim the owners denied, saying they produced all the paperwork required to prove their case.
A 17-year-old boy was killed in a motorcycle crash in southeast Calgary over the weekend.
An event was held in Ottawa to honour the victims on the anniversary of the worst attack against Jewish people since the Holocaust.
The Ottawa Police Service is investigating after a body was found along a road in Barrhaven. Emergency crews responded to a report of a deceased person at approximately 10:15 a.m. Monday in the 3100 block of Greenbank Road, at Strandherd Drive.
The Renfrew County Joint Transportation Consortium (RCJTC) and school bus operators have reached a contract agreement in principle.
Montreal students and supporters showed their grief and anger at protests and vigils as they marked the anniversary of the current war between Israel and Gaza.
Celine Dion introduced the marquee Dallas Cowboys - Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday Night Football game before getting drenched by orange Gatorade.
There is not one space in the Look family home that isn't somehow connected to Alexandre – from the paintings on the wall to the tequila bottles he collected, his parents have spent the last year gathering his things and bringing them home.
A Grande Prairie man has been charged with kidnapping after an assault on Sunday.
After four years of criticism, the Alberta government is considering changing how schools are funded
He was brought into the fold to presumably play in a Top 6 forward role, but Jeff Skinner might start the Edmonton Oilers' 2024-25 campaign lower down in the National Hockey League team's lineup.
CTV Atlantic meteorologist Kalin Mitchell has details on rain and downpours expected Monday through early Wednesday in the Maritimes, plus an update on Hurricane Milton.
For the first time in years, a direct flight from Halifax touched down at the JD McCurdy Sydney Airport on Monday.
With exactly two-weeks to go until election day, New Brunswick’s three main political parties spent Monday on the campaign trail talking about crime and health.
A disgraced Winnipeg high school football coach convicted of sexual assault and luring will spend 20 years behind bars.
After concerns were raised in the summer, it appears some 7-Eleven stores in Winnipeg may be shutting down because of crime.
One year has passed since Hamas militants murdered 1,200 Israelis and took more than 200 people hostage. Since the horrific attack, nearly 42,000 people have been killed in Gaza, as the war between Israel and Hamas rages on.
Regina resident Murray Yagelniski says a city-owned tree on his property is the root of the issue behind his basement flooding.
The Saskatchewan NDP says the province's troubled payment and scheduling system for healthcare is only half implemented and has costed taxpayers nearly triple its original price tag so far.
The John Howard Society of Saskatchewan will appear in front of the Supreme Court of Canada on Tuesday challenging a regulation that it says lets correctional workers discipline inmates without sufficient proof.
Communities across Canada, including in Waterloo Region, are marking one year since the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the Israel-Hamas war.
In September, Â鶹ӰÊÓ Kitchener reported on Sandvine's deals with autocratic governments, including Egypt, where its tech reportedly helped inject spyware into the devices of government critics.
The penalty hearing for Guelph Police constable Corey McArthur has heard from two character witnesses, both supporting an eventual return to policing for the officer who has admitted to assaulting a teen who was handcuffed to a hospital bed.
Saskatoon’s Prairie Harm Reduction (PHR) says a staff member arrived to work on Thursday morning to find someone at its doorstep, unresponsive from a suspected drug overdose.
A 36-year-old woman accused of sexually assaulting, physically assaulting and threatening residents at a Saskatchewan care home, was not in court when her matters were spoken to Monday afternoon.
Saskatoon mayoral candidate Cynthia Block says the city needs a new deal with Ottawa to keep life affordable.
Ontario Provincial Police are investigating a fatal crash of a side-by-side off-road vehicle east of Parry Sound that killed one and injured another Friday.
For decades, Mississauga First Nation has known that human remains from their land were at the Canadian Museum of History.
The Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) is the latest organization to call on the Doug Ford government to re-open dialogue with an airline service that transports lower-income Canadians to crucial medical care far from home.
London police are investigating a break and enter and shooting incident that happened this past weekend and are looking for the two suspects involved.
Emotions have boiled over after a judge acquitted two out of three defendants in a manslaughter case, while the third accused has since died
Videos of a meteor streaking across the skies of southern Ontario have surfaced and small bits of the outer space rock may have made it to land, one astronomy professor says.
The cause of a fire that caused significant damage to a home in Oro-Medonte over the weekend is under investigation.
One person was taken to the hospital with what police describe as minor injuries after a loose wheel caused a collision on Highway 400 in Bradford on Monday.
Police are driving attention to an unsolved homicide that happened in broad daylight over a year ago in Tay Township in hopes someone holds the key that can move the case forward.
Chrysler’s parent company, Stellantis, has filed nine lawsuits against the United Auto Workers (UAW) and 23 individual local units, saying the union violated its contract by threatening to strike over the company’s future plans.
The Ambassador Bridge border crossing was 'temporarily closed' for a period of time, according to the Canada Border Services Agency website.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led militants launched air and ground attacks on Israel, killing nearly 1,200 and taking more than 250 hostages.
Major crime investigators have been called to the scene of a suspected homicide in the northern Vancouver Island community of Port Hardy.
The day after a minivan was set ablaze outside Vancouver City Hall, a 78-year-old man has been criminally charged.
A Canadian soldier who was exposed to toxic chemicals from burn pits while serving in Afghanistan has been awarded full medical compensation for testicular cancer after Veterans Affairs initially denied his claim.
Nearly two years after a man was stabbed to death in downtown Kelowna, RCMP have made an arrest in the case.
NDP Leader David Eby is promising to offer a $75-million loan forgiveness program to entice doctors, nurses and heath professionals to expand health-care services in rural British Columbia.
Three young suspects have been arrested in connection with a swarming attack on a teenager in B.C.'s Okanagan last week – and authorities have asked the public to stop circulating disturbing videos of the incident.
A Lethbridge police officer involved in a scandal involving former Lethbridge New Democrat MLA Shannon Phillips has been reprimanded.
Lethbridge police say a man who escaped from a psychiatric ward at the Chinook Regional Hospital has been found.
While the summer may be over, construction season in Lethbridge is not.
The Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) is the latest organization to call on the Doug Ford government to re-open dialogue with an airline service that transports lower-income Canadians to crucial medical care far from home.
For decades, Mississauga First Nation has known that human remains from their land were at the Canadian Museum of History.
Greater Sudbury in partnership with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, is hosting the organization's annual mining conference.
As millions in federal funding flow into a Labrador group whose claims of Inuit identity have been rejected by Indigenous organizations across Canada, a national Inuit leader worries the Liberal government is putting the rights of Indigenous Peoples at risk.
He may not have logged the fastest time or even gone the full distance, but residents of a Newfoundland town agree the goat who unexpectedly joined the local weekend half marathon was the event's undisputed champion.
A mother in a community where the cost of living is one of the highest in the country says grocery prices are 'inhumane' and retailers are putting profits ahead of people’s basic human right to food.
The Shopping Trends team is independent of the journalists at Â鶹ӰÊÓ. We may earn a commission when you use our links to shop. Read about us.
