Biden Supreme Court pick shows 'radical left' won, Graham says, promising 'respectful but interesting' hearing

close

Video

Biden to nominate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for Supreme Court

Jackson would be the first Black woman to serve as a Supreme Court justice

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. said President Biden's nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court shows that the "radical left" has won.

Graham, a member of the powerful Judiciary Committee, had urged Biden to pick South Carolina district court Judge J. Michelle Childs.

BIDEN SUPREME COURT PICK: LIVE UPDATES

"If media reports are accurate, and Judge Jackson has been chosen as the Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Breyer, it means the radical Left has won President Biden over yet again," Graham said Friday just before the White House made Jackson's nomination official. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham and President Biden. (Getty Images)

Biden ally Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina has also been pushing for Childs, who has a more nontraditional Supreme Court background of attending public colleges, including the University of South Florida and the University of South Carolina.

BIDEN TO NOMINATE JUDGE KETANJI BROWN JACKSON TO SUPREME COURT

"The Harvard-Yale train to the Supreme Court continues to run unabated," Graham said in a statement. 

Progressive groups were critical of Childs, in part for a 2009 sentence she handed down in which a man was sent to prison for 12 years for a nonviolent marijuana charge.

Ketanji Brown Jackson, nominated to be a U.S. Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit, is sworn in to testify before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on pending judicial nominations on Capitol Hill, April 28, 2021, in Washington. (Kevin Lamarque-Pool/Getty Images)

"The attacks by the Left on Judge Childs from South Carolina apparently worked," Graham said.  

GRAHAM SUPPORTS SC JUDGE J. MICHELLE CHILDS AS POSSIBLE BIDEN SCOTUS PICK: ‘ANYONE ELSE WOULD BE PROBLEMATIC’

He added: "I expect a respectful but interesting hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee."

Biden is to formally announce his choice of Jackson at the White House later Friday.

If confirmed she will be the first African American woman on the high court. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

She already went through the confirmation process twice in the Senate.  She was confirmed by a voice vote for a lower court in 2013. Then, last spring, in a 53-44 vote, she was confirmed to the powerful DC Circuit Court.

A screenshot of Sen. Lindsey Graham from "America's Newsroom" on Nov. 10, 2021. (Fox News)

Three Republicans voted for Jackson last year, including Graham as well as Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

Fox News' Chad Pergram and Tyler Olson contributed to this report.