The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold its first day of confirmation hearings for United States Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson on March 21, 2022. Hearings typically involve a statement from the nominee, interviews with witnesses testifying for or against the nomination, and questions from Senators regarding the nominee’s experience, past judgments, and judicial philosophy.
After the hearings take place, the Judiciary Committee will vote on whether to advance her nomination. The committee’s current membership consists of 11 Democrats and 11 Republicans. If approved, her nomination will then be put up to a confirmation vote before the full Senate. Her confirmation vote can take place before retiring Justice Stephen Breyer leaves the court, with her swearing-in delayed until his departure.
The average length of a Supreme Court vacancy since 1962, when measured from the retirement announcement to confirmation of a successor, is 132 days. The longest vacancy was between the terms of Antonin Scalia and Neil Gorsuch at 419 days, and the shortest was between the terms of Charles Evans Whittaker and Byron White at 13 days.
