Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings: What to Know

When are the hearings and what is the format?

The Senate Judiciary Committee will open hearings on Monday, March 21, at 11 a.m. ET. They are expected to last for four days. The first day will consist of opening statements from committee members followed by a statement from Judge Jackson. Each member of the committee, as well as Judge Jackson, will have 10 minutes to speak. At hearings Tuesday and Wednesday, beginning at 9 a.m., members of the committee will question Judge Jackson at length about her judicial philosophy and past opinions. Each member will get to ask questions in blocks of 30 minutes during the Tuesday hearing and 20 minutes for the Wednesday hearing.

The committee will meet in a closed hearing Wednesday afternoon to examine privately any issues raised in the Federal Bureau of Investigation background investigation that Judge Jackson, like all nominees, has undergone. Finally, on Thursday, experts and legal observers will testify about Judge Jackson’s qualifications, experience and judicial record.

How can the public follow the proceedings?

The hearings—with the exception of Wednesday afternoon’s closed session—will stream online via the committee’s website and on cable networks such as C-SPAN. The wsj.com website will stream portions of the hearings.

What key issues will the Senate panel examine?

As in previous Supreme Court nomination hearings, senators will probably want to examine the record, experience and judicial philosophy of Judge Jackson. They are expected to press her on her past legal work and writing, her decisions as a U.S. District Court judge and as an appeals-court judge, and on how she views questions of law.

As Supreme Court confirmation hearings have become more contentious in recent decades, nominees have grown less willing to discuss their views on hot-button topics such as abortion that might come before the court, saying it would be inappropriate to comment on anything outside a specific case. In many instances, nominees have pointed to

Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s

confirmation hearings in 1993, in which she declined to answer a number of questions on gay rights, the First Amendment and other issues, though the future Justice Ginsburg did answer some broad questions about her views on abortion and privacy.

A number of Republican senators have raised concerns about some aspects of Judge Jackson’s record on criminal justice, including her record on sentencing and her work as an assistant federal public defender. In both her work as a public defender and later as a lawyer in private practice, Judge Jackson represented detainees suspected of terrorism held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

How would Judge Jackson change the court, given what we know on her rulings?

Judge Jackson would replace Justice Breyer, a member of the court’s minority liberal wing. As a nominee of a Democratic president, she is unlikely to usher in a significant change in the ideological direction of the court if confirmed by the Senate. Presidents of both parties now significantly vet their nominees to ensure that they have compatible judicial philosophies.

Much, however, is unknown about Judge Jackson’s views on key constitutional questions. She spent the bulk of her career as a District Court judge, where she was bound to apply precedent from higher courts with little room to express her views on key legal issues. In her short stint as an appeals-court judge, she wrote two majority court opinions.

What happens at the end of the four days of hearings?

After the hearings conclude, the Senate Judiciary Committee will meet to decide whether to recommend the nomination to the full Senate for a vote. Democrats hold the majority of seats on the committee and are likely to advance the nomination. The committee vote is technically only a recommendation—the full Senate could still consider a nominee who didn’t win majority support in the committee. In 1991, the Senate Judiciary Committee deadlocked 7-7 on whether to recommend

Clarence Thomas

but voted 13-1 to send his nomination without a recommendation to the Senate, where he was confirmed in a 52-48 vote. He faced allegations from law professor

Anita Hill

that he sexually harassed her when they worked together. He denied the allegations.

The committee could also bring back Judge Jackson for further questioning, as it has in the past. Justice Thomas appeared before the panel to address Ms. Hill’s allegations. Justice

Brett Kavanaugh

returned after his initial appearance to address allegations of sexual misconduct as a high-school student, which he denied.

Who are the key senators to watch during the hearings?

The Senate Judiciary Committee’s members will have an opportunity to use the hearing to spotlight issues they care about—and in some cases boost their own political profiles. Democrat Dick Durbin (D., Ill.), the chairman of the panel, is running his first Supreme Court confirmation hearing, and has said he wants it to be a calm and measured proceeding. Sen.

Chuck Grassley

of Iowa, the ranking Republican, is a veteran of such proceedings, having chaired two nomination hearings during

Donald Trump’s

presidency.

Several politicians of both parties with aspirations for higher office sit on the panel, which can sometimes be a springboard to a higher national profile. Mr. Biden chaired the Judiciary Committee for eight years and presided over six nomination hearings—including spearheading Democratic opposition to Republican nominee Robert Bork in 1987 just before his 1988 run for president. Sitting on the current panel are Sens. Ted Cruz (R., Texas),

Josh Hawley

(R., Mo.) and Tom Cotton (R., Ark.), all of whom are frequently mentioned as potential future presidential candidates. On the Democratic side, Sen.

Cory Booker

(D., N.J.) and Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination in 2020.

Who are the swing votes on Judge Jackson’s nomination?

Judge Jackson was confirmed as a U.S. District Court judge in Washington without controversy in 2013 on a voice vote. Last year she was elevated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, with three Republicans supporting her nomination. Those three—Sens.

Susan Collins

(R., Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska) and

Lindsey Graham

(R., S.C.)—are key votes to watch, along with two moderate Democrats who have occasionally frustrated Mr. Biden’s agenda.

Mr. Graham has long espoused the view that presidents should be accorded significant deference on their nominees, but had pushed for a candidate from his home state over Judge Jackson. Upon reports of her being the nominee, Mr. Graham wrote on Twitter that her nomination “means the radical Left has won President Biden over yet again.” Both Mses. Collins and Murkowski are centrist Republicans who often break from their party. On the other side of the aisle, Sens. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) and

Kyrsten Sinema

(D., Ariz.) have occasionally broken from their party on key votes but previously supported Judge Jackson’s nomination to the appeals court. They both issued positive statements after meeting Judge Jackson.

How many senators are needed to approve a Supreme Court nominee?

It now takes 51 votes to confirm a Supreme Court nominee. Democrats and two independents who caucus with them currently hold 50 seats, with Vice President

Kamala Harris

acting as a tiebreaking vote that gives control of the chamber to the Democrats. The filibuster on Supreme Court nominees, which would have required a supermajority of 60 votes to end debate and move to a final vote, was eliminated in 2017 under a Republican-controlled Senate. Democrats previously eliminated the filibuster on all nominees except Supreme Court nominees in 2013.

Write to Byron Tau at byron.tau@wsj.com