Lindsay Graham Calls SCOTUS Pick 'Radical Left' Despite Voting to Confirm

Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, slammed President Joe Biden's decision to nominate Kentanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court—suggesting she was the "radical Left" choice despite previously supporting her confirmation to be a U.S. circuit judge for the District of Columbia less than a year ago.

The White House confirmed on Friday that Biden would appear at the White House along with Jackson to deliver remarks about his decision to nominate the judge to serve as an associate justice on the nation's highest court. While Graham was one of a few Republicans to vote for Jackson when she was nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, he is now expressing reservations,

"The President will deliver remarks on his nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Jackson will also deliver remarks, and the Vice President [Kamala Harris] will attend," the White House said Friday in a daily guidance email to journalists. CNN first broke the story, citing an anonymous source.

Graham, who previously chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee from January 2019 to February 2021, responded negatively to the news of Biden's decision.

"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," the Republican senator tweeted Friday morning.

"The attacks by the Left on Judge [Michelle] Childs from South Carolina apparently worked," he added. Previously, Graham publicly suggested Childs would be a good nominee for Biden to select.

"I expect a respectful but interesting hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Harvard-Yale train to the Supreme Court continues to run unabated," the GOP lawmaker added.

When Jackson's nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit was up for a vote in the Senate last June, Graham was one of just three Republicans to vote in her favor. The other two GOP senators were Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. Those three Republicans have all voted in favor of at least 60 percent of Biden's judicial nominees, according to Politico.

Unlike many other Republicans, Graham has defended the president's commitment to select a Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court. "Put me in the camp of making sure the court and other institutions look like America," the South Carolina senator told CBS News' Face the Nation at the end of January.

"In the history of our country we've only had five women serve and two African American men," Graham said. "So let's make the court more like America, but qualifications have to be the biggest consideration."

In that same interview, the senator touted his support for Childs to be nominated to the Supreme Court. Childs was appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2009 to serve as a U.S. district judge of the District Court for the District of South Carolina.

"She has wide support in our state. She's considered to be a fair-minded and highly gifted jurist. She's one of the most decent people I've ever met," Graham said. "Michelle Childs is incredibly qualified."

In a Friday Twitter post, Biden praised Jackson and touted his nomination of her to nation's top court.

"I'm proud to announce that I am nominating Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the Supreme Court. Currently serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, she is one of our nation's brightest legal minds and will be an exceptional Justice," the president wrote.

Newsweek reached out to a Graham spokesperson for comment but did not immediately receive a response.