三名共和党参议员——缅因州的苏珊·科林斯、阿拉斯加州的莉萨·穆尔科斯基和犹他州的米特·罗姆尼——冒着脱离本党的政治风险，投票支持法官凯坦吉·布朗·杰克森(Ketanji Brown Jackson)本周对最高法院的确认，这是美国最高法院233年历史上第一位黑人女性。

在这三名共和党人的帮助下，民主党人周一以53比47的投票结果将杰克逊的提名从参议院司法委员会(Senate Judiciary Committee)推出，为乔·拜登(Joe Biden)总统的提名人在本周晚些时候获得参议院全体会议的确认铺平了道路。

但不清楚当他们继续解释他们的理由时，是否会面临选民或同事的反对。

J.斯科特·阿普尔怀特/美联社

共和党参议员莉萨·穆尔科斯基(左)和米特罗姆尼表示，他们将投票支持共和党...

柯林斯是上周第一个承诺支持杰克逊的共和党人，此前她与被提名人见过两次面，她说被提名人减轻了她的担忧。周一，穆尔科斯基和罗姆尼也表示支持，这让推动两党投票的拜登白宫松了一口气。

在她的司法委员会听证会上，杰克逊给穆尔科斯基留下了“相当深刻的印象”，在那里“她受到了一些非常非常严格的审查，我认为你看到了格蕾丝在那里受到的压力，”穆尔科斯基说。

“这是一种不正当的人身攻击，”她补充道，并呼吁围绕确认过程的腐蚀性政治。

“这是一个可怕的过程，太可怕了，”穆尔科斯基说。“我们被捆住了，我们现在是如此的分裂。我们已经到了这种地步，如果不是我的政党的总统提出一个提名人，我几乎有义务给予考虑。”

在穆尔科斯基周一宣布她的意图后不久，罗姆尼也紧随其后，成为唯一一位改变路线并宣布支持杰克逊的共和党人，此前她曾在去年投票反对杰克逊在美国上诉法院的确认。他周二告诉记者，在确信她属于“主流”后，他同意了。

罗姆尼说:“在她以前的确认投票中，我担心她是否属于主流，在与她本人相处并审查她在国会的证词后，我确信她属于主流。”。

虽然杰克逊在那次投票中得到了共和党参议员林赛·格雷厄姆的支持，格雷厄姆说他这次会投反对票，并补充说如果共和党控制了参议院，杰克逊就不会得到听证会的机会。

共和党人，由参议员乔希·霍利领导。在诉讼过程中，她一再质疑杰克逊对儿童色情罪犯的判决，试图将她描绘成“对犯罪手软”——民主党人认为这是错误的标签。(少数罪犯从杰克逊那里获得了低于联邦指导原则的判决，但刑期高于缓刑监督官建议的刑期，使她成为司法行动的主流。)

像科林斯和穆尔科斯基一样，罗姆尼星期二也哀叹确认最高法院提名人的过程变得越来越政治化。

罗姆尼说:“我认为，也许我们将不得不重新考虑我们未来要追求的进程，部分原因是你可能会有一个政党的总统和另一个政党的参议院，也许会有变化。”“但在这个阶段，我确信杰克逊法官是合格的、聪明的、有能力的，我开始确信她是主流人物。”

柯林斯说，她“很高兴”得知她的同事们对杰克逊的确认“得出了类似的结论”，并补充说，在他们宣布他们的立场之前，她已经与他们“进行了一些交谈”，但只是“昨天早些时候”才知道他们的支持。

她还对有时会破坏法院公信力的激烈程序表示关切。

“我希望我们能回到两党都支持合格的最高法院提名人的时代，因为这对公众对法院的信心很重要，”柯林斯说。“法院不应该是一个政治化的机构，如果导致确认的提名过程过于政治化，我认为这将损害公众对我们法院的信心，很遗憾，这就是我们在过去几个被提名者身上看到的。”

虽然柯林斯对杰克逊的一些判决表示担忧，但她在一份声明中说，事实上她“不会同意她作为大法官所投的每一票...不是取消资格。”

Why Republicans Romney, Murkowski, and Collins say they'll vote for Ketanji Brown Jackson

Three Republican senators -- Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah -- have taken the political risk of breaking from their party to vote for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation to the Supreme Court this week, elevating the first Black woman to the nation's highest court in its 233-year history.

Democrats on Monday were able to advance Jackson's nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee by a 53-47 vote, with the help of those three Republicans, putting President Joe Biden's nominee on a clear path to being confirmed later this week by the full Senate.

But it's unclear if they will face blowback from constituents or colleagues as they continue to explain their reasoning.

Collins was the first Republican to pledge her support to Jackson last week, after meeting twice with the nominee who she said alleviated her concerns. Murkowski and Romney's endorsements followed on Monday, to the relief of the Biden White House, which had pushed for a bipartisan vote.

Jackson left "quite an impression" on Murkowski during her Judiciary Committee hearings, where "she was put under some pretty, pretty intense scrutiny, and I think you saw grace under pressure there," Murkowski said.

"There was a level of personal attack that was not warranted," she added, also calling out corrosive politics around the confirmation process.

"This is an awful process it's just awful," Murkowski said. "We're strapped into it, we're so divided now. We are to that point where it is almost automatic where if it is a president who is not of my party puts forth a nominee I am somehow obligated to just barely even give consideration."

Moments after Murkowski announced her intention Monday, Romney followed suit -- becoming the only Republican to reverse course and announce plans to support Jackson after previously voting against her confirmation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit last year. He told reporters Tuesday that he got to yes after becoming convinced she's within the "mainstream."

"In her previous confirmation votes I had concerns about whether she was in the mainstream and having spent time with her personally and reviewing her testimony before Congress I became convinced that she is in the mainstream," Romney said.

While Jackson did, then, get the support of Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on that vote, Graham said he will vote no this time around, adding that Jackson wouldn't have been given hearings had Republicans controlled the Senate.

Republicans, led by Sen Josh Hawley, R-Mo., repeatedly challenged Jackson's sentencing of child porn offenders during the proceedings in an effort to paint her as "soft on crime" -- a label Democrats dismissed as false. (A handful of offenders received sentences below federal guidelines from Jackson, but the prison terms were above those recommended by the probation officer, putting her in the mainstream of judicial action.)

Romney, like Collins and Murkowski, also lamented Tuesday that the process of confirming Supreme Court nominees has becoming increasingly politicized.

"I think, perhaps, we are going to have to reconsider the process that we are going to pursue in the future in part because you could have a setting where you have a president of one party and a Senate of another, and maybe there will be a change," Romney said. "But at this stage, I was convinced that Judge Jackson is well qualified, intelligent capable, and I became convinced that she is within the mainstream."

Collins said she was "delighted" to learn that her colleagues had "reached a similar conclusion" on Jackson's confirmation, adding she'd had "some conversations" with the two before they announced their positions but only learned of their support "earlier yesterday".

She also raised concerns with the, at times, combative process wrecking the court's credibility.

"I hope we can get back to a time where we have bipartisan support for qualified Supreme Court nominees because it is important for public confidence in the court," Collins said. "The court is not supposed to be a politicized institution, and if the nomination process leading up to confirmation is overly political, I believe it undermines the public's confidence in our courts and regrettably that's what we've seen with the last few nominees."

While Collins aired concerns with some of Jackson's sentences, she said in a statement that the fact she "will not agree with every vote that she casts as a Justice...is not disqualifying."