Mitt Romney Seen Standing Alone Applauding KBJ As Other Republicans Walk Out After Historic Confirmation
Republican Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) was seen in a now-viral clip standing alone applauding after the official confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court on Thursday.
In the clip, which vividly illustrates the pervasive partisanship gripping Washington, DC, Romney’s Republican Senate colleagues can be seen slowly walking out as the Senate chamber applauds the historic confirmation of the first Black female Supreme Court justice.
The clip was shared on Twitter and quickly received a bevy of replies. Author Lois Romano commented, “The lack of comity is just stunning.” While author John A. Daly jested: “Adulting.”
Adulting. https://t.co/YzpFnL2scx
— John A. Daly (@JohnDalyBooks) April 7, 2022
Jackson was confirmed by a 53 to 47 vote, with Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Mitt Romney (R-UT) joining all the Senate Democrats in voting for her confirmation.
Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, has been a rare voice pushing for decency and bipartisanship in DC and has admonished both his GOP colleagues and the Biden administration for their lack of cross-partisan outreach.
“A Senate evenly split between both parties and a bare Democratic House majority are hardly a mandate to ‘go it alone,’ ” Romney tweeted in April 2021. “The President should live up to the bipartisanship he preached in his inaugural address.”
His willingness to vote for Jackson landed Romney in hot water with the right-wing of his party and resulted in Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) denouncing him as “pro-pedophile.”
Romney said GOP attacks on Jackson for being too lenient in sentencing on cases regarding child pornography were misguided, “It struck me that it was off course, meaning the attacks were off course that came from some,” Romney told The Washington Post. “And there is no there, there.”
“In her previous confirmation vote, I had concerns about whether or not she was in the mainstream,” Romney told reporters on Tuesday, explaining his decision to support Jackson. “And having spent time with her personally and reviewing her testimony before Congress [I] became convinced that she is in the mainstream.”
