Jackson confirmation hearings to begin March 21

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court confirmation hearings will begin on Monday, March 21 and will last four days, the Senate Judiciary Committee announced Wednesday.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the committee's chairman, released a letter notifying his colleagues on the panel of the schedule that week and promised a thorough review of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals judge who President Biden has tapped to fill Justice Stephen Breyer's seat.

"As I have said from the time that Justice Breyer announced his retirement, the Committee will undertake a fair and timely process to consider Judge Jackson’s nomination," Durbin wrote in the letter. "I look forward to Judge Jackson’s appearance before the Committee and to respectful and dignified hearings."

The four days of hearings will begin on March 21 with opening statements from committee members, people tasked with introducing Jackson and the judge herself. Committee members will be able to question Jackson the following Tuesday and Wednesday, and the panel will also hold a closed-door meeting that Wednesday to discuss her FBI background investigation, which is routine for all Supreme Court nominees.

Thursday, the final day scheduled for hearings, will feature testimony from the American Bar Association, which is reviewing her qualifications, and any other outside witnesses who might be called to testify.

Durbin did not announce a date for a committee vote to advance Jackson's nomination, but has said that he aims to get her confirmed by the Senate's recess beginning on April 9.