The GOP won’t be happy about this.
In an unlikely twist, a Republican Senate candidate is urging that President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee be confirmed.
Next month, if federal Judge Ketanji Brown Johnson is confirmed as expected, Johnson will be the first black woman to sit on the High Court bench.
Republican Senate candidate Christina Nolan is also looking to make history in the midterm elections in November to become Vermont’s first elected female senator.
Nolan also made a startling remark, calling for Johnson’s confirmation in a statement.
“I have been impressed with Judge Jackson’s performance and support her confirmation to the United States Supreme Court,” Nolan added that Jackson “has the required legal experience, temperament, and clear understanding of the judicial branch’s role in interpreting the law.”
Nolan, who is a former U.S. attorney, stressed that her role “as a former prosecutor” meant she would “always treat each judicial nominee with the respect they deserve and vote for or against them based solely on their qualifications.”
Nolan then went on to chastise both parties for playing politics, saying, “politics should play no role in the confirmation process, a lesson that Washington politicians on both sides have sadly strayed from in recent years.”
Despite many GOP senators criticizing Jackson, Nolan has emphasized the importance of “diversity.”
“As a candidate to become Vermont’s first female senator, I believe Judge Jackson will bring much-needed diversity to the highest court in the land,” adding that she hoped Jackson would be “confirmed swiftly.”
Vermont is a blue state. In the most recent national elections, President Biden won in the state by 35 points.
Given Vermont is a blue state, Nolan’s statements are likely to appeal to the center with this pivot, at least that’s according to longtime GOP consultant Tom Rath, “A hard-right Republican can never win an election in Vermont.”
Rath went on to say, “On this issue, Nolan’s found some room to move toward the middle.”
