Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks to reporters following a lunch meeting with Senate Republicans at the U.S. Capitol on March 22. Photo: Drew Angerer via Getty Images
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday that he will vote "no" on Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation to the Supreme Court.
The big picture: Jackson is likely to be confirmed with or without McConnell’s support, but he had left the door open in previous days, saying he wasn't yet sure.
What he's saying now: In a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday, McConnell said Jackson deflected questions on constitutional philosophy and cited the fact that she's backed by groups that support court-packing.
- "I cannot and will not support Judge Jackson to her lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court," McConnell said.
- Jackson "declined to address critically important questions and ameliorate real concerns," he added, pointing to her non-answers on court-packing. "Judge Jackson was the court-packers’ pick. And she testified like it."
- Jackson followed Justice Amy Coney Barrett's precedent in declining to respond to a number of questions during her hearing. Court-packing is also a subject that would be decided solely by the president and Congress.
Worth noting: McConnell voted against Jackson's appointment to the D.C. circuit court last year.
Go deeper: How Mitch McConnell sees the Ketanji Brown Jackson "battle"