The story goes on under the ad Although the letter from the prominent Utah school had half a dozen recipients, it seemed tailored to one in particular: Senator Mitt Romney, the junior state senator and the Republican presidential candidate in 2012, whose public platform and is much wider than his relatively short Senate would suggest the term. A few days before Jackson’s possible confirmation this week, Romney remains one of the most interesting supporters of her candidacy, sending clear signals that she weighs not only Jackson’s qualifications and legal philosophy but also the historical nature of her candidacy. the first black woman to serve in the Supreme Court. Romney’s stated openness to Jackson is even more impressive after she last year opposed her candidacy in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, which is considered the nation’s second most powerful court and de facto training ground for Supreme Court justices. As the BYU letter suggests, his attitude is remarkable for another reason: A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Romney has placed a high value on religious freedom. “I think he sees it honestly and sincerely,” said Sen. John Thune (SD), the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, who spoke with Romney about Jackson. “He hears a lot from our members who are close to him, but he is an independent person and he will come to his own conclusion.” The story goes on under the ad When the Senate Justice Committee votes on Brown’s appointment Monday, it is almost certain that he will split along party lines, resulting in an 11-to-11 stalemate. This would force Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (DN) to resign. .Y.) To proceed with the exemption Jackson’s nomination from the floor committee and the resulting final confirmation vote will likely take place on Thursday or Friday. So far, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is the only Republican to announce that she will run in the 50-seat Senate for Jackson. While that makes Jackson’s confirmation almost certain, the White House would like to persuade as many other GOP senators as possible to join Collins. The story goes on under the ad During the debate over Jackson’s candidacy, Romney made it clear that he was not convinced by arguments that have influenced his fellow Republicans. Many Republican senators have rallied behind the view that Jackson, as a trial judge, was very lenient in convicting child pornography offenders, although experts said Jackson’s record was in line with the rule. Romney said the Republican senators’ aggressive questions about the issue were “out of the question” and “not there.” In an interview with CNN Plus last week, Romney was even more critical. “Some of my colleagues in the hallway, I thought, asked respectful questions and were able to extract answers from what I think were very helpful to those making an assessment,” Romney said. But he added: “I thought some people were preparing for their presidential campaign and that, if you will, they did the things you have to do to get on TV, which I think is unfortunate.” At least three Republican members of the Senate Justice Committee are considered potential presidential candidates: Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Hawley was particularly persistent in pressuring Jackson to file her sentence. The story goes on under the ad One of Jackson’s first supporters was retired DC Circuit Judge Thomas Griffith, who once served as general counsel at Brigham Young University and, like Romney, is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Griffith officially introduced Jackson at her confirmation hearing. “I have always respected her careful approach, her excellent judicial understanding and her collective manner, three essential characteristics for success as a Judge in the Supreme Court,” Griffith wrote in a letter to the Justice Committee shortly after Jackson’s candidacy. Shortly after the letter was published, Romney said he was “impressed” by Griffith’s words. “He knows her,” Romney said at the time. “It was a very strong and useful validation.” The story goes on under the ad In their letter, BYU law professors cited one of Jackson’s decisions as a district court judge – Tyson v. Brennan – in which he sided with a Christian plaintiff who sued after being reprimanded for playing gospel music at work, while secular music was allowed. One of the professors who signed the letter was Marion G. Romney, a law professor at the school, a position named after a senator’s cousin. “At the confirmation hearings for her candidacy as a federal court of appeal, she stated her support for freedom of religion, calling it the ‘fundamental doctrine of our entire government,’” the professors added. Romney, however, kept his thoughts on Jackson, especially after the end of the confirmation hearings and his meeting with her. He praised the candidate as “smart, capable and of course, as you know, a charming person” after their meeting, saying that they spent most of their time on Tuesday discussing her judicial philosophy. The story goes on under the ad Romney said he would probably not announce his decision on Jackson until the day of the confirmation vote and told reporters Thursday that he would delve deeper into her writing and legal decisions as she continues to discuss this weekend. The government is urgently seeking the support of Romney, as he is one of the few senators to be voted on, despite his opposition to her candidacy and his background in rarely supporting President Biden’s judicial decisions. Of the nearly 60 federal judges confirmed in Biden’s presidency so far, Romney has backed 10, according to a Washington Post review. He was one of the few Republican senators to receive a personal phone call from Biden after Judge Stephen G. Breyer announced his resignation, although he is not on the panel and does not have a long history of voting for Supreme Court nominees. Elected to the Senate in 2018, Romney voted for only one Supreme Court election, supporting the candidacy of Amy Connie Barrett by President Donald Trump in October 2020. The story goes on under the ad In a conversation with Biden, Romney said, he urged the president to choose a candidate in Breyer’s mold, who was known as a consensus builder despite his credible liberal positions. Biden, choosing Jackson, reconciled with a former employee of Breyer, whose background and approach resembles that of her mentor. Shortly after Jackson’s appointment, Romney told reporters that while he and Breyer differed in their judicial philosophy, the senator believed that justice had played a “legitimate role” in court and would support Breyer if he were a senator in 1994. when Breyer. was proposed. Romney said he opposed Jackson on appeal last year, in part because he did not have the opportunity to sit down with her at the time to discuss her philosophy and background, adding that the historical nature of her candidacy also deserves a fresh look. The story goes on under the ad “If it’s in the mold, if you will, of a center-left Democrat, that’s probably the kind of mold I could support,” Romney said of Jackson in early March. “On the other hand, if it is beyond the normal range of the Democrats and the Democratic Party, that is something I would find a bridge too far.” Ever since Jackson’s candidacy was formalized, the White House has been working to promote and support bipartisan credentials, a message that is apparently aimed at Romney, Collins and Murkowski. It is unclear how much the various arguments directly affect Romney, who has stressed that his main focus when it comes to Jackson is her judicial philosophy. When asked about this repeatedly during her affirmative hearings, Jackson usually described her method of judgment: Start from a neutral position, absorb all relevant information in a case, and then apply the law to make a decision. “My judicial philosophy is to act impartially and to act in accordance with the limits of my authority as a judge,” Jackson told senators. “And so, my methodology really helps me do that in any case.” Romney may need to reveal where he is headed as early as Monday, when the Senate votes on Sumer’s procedural measure to bring Jackson’s candidacy to the floor. Although some senators voted differently on the procedural and final affirmative votes, Romney generally did not. White House officials say they do not take any vote for granted. Democratic senators who have close ties to their Republican counterparts have been flirting with them for weeks, hoping to win Jackson more than one Republican vote for her. “I have spoken to many Republican senators,” said Richard J. Durbin, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee (D-Ill.). “Until they tell me face to face that they vote yes, I will not count them. We are still working. “ Mike DeBonis contributed to this report.
