Retiring Republican US Sen. Rob Portman will stick with most of his party and oppose Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Biden’s nominee to the US Supreme Court.
That means a split vote for Ohio’s two Senators in Jackson's confirmation vote in the Senate later this week.
Portman writes in a statement that he met Jackson and found her to be “engaging and thoughtful with strong credentials”. He said he asked her about "her approach to interpreting and applying the law, restraints on judicial activism", specific cases and whether she supports adding more justices to the US Supreme Court, which has been criticized by Republicans and embraced by some Democrats. Portman writes based on those answers he's concluded: "We simply have a different judicial philosophy."
Portman adds: “I am concerned Judge Jackson will use her position on the Supreme Court to legislate from the bench as many more activist judges have done in recent decades.”