Harris' potential tie-breaking vote for SCOTUS nominee would be first in U.S. history

A strict party-line vote for President Joe Biden's first Supreme Court nominee would bring about a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Kamala Harris in what would be the first such vote to confirm a Supreme Court justice in U.S. History.

The United States Senate is currently split evenly between Republicans and Democrats, with 50 members of both parties occupying the chamber. In such instances, when votes split directly along party lines, the U.S. Constitution directs the vice president to cast a tie-breaking vote. 

Biden's nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson, has notably enjoyed some bipartisan support in the past: Several Republicans, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, voted to confirm her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last year. 

Supreme Court nominations tend to be more contentious than lower court appointments, though Senate Democrats have already reportedly begun courting more moderate Republicans such as Utah Sen. Mitt Romney to support the president's nominee. 

Graham, meanwhile, has already signaled that he may oppose Jackson's nomination to the high court. 



"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," he wrote on Friday.