Highlights from Senate vote to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson

The Senate Judiciary Committee has gone into a 30-minute break following a morning of opening statements from Democrats and Republicans on the committee considering Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court.

After the break, seven more senators have opening statements to deliver before the public hears from two introducers and Jackson herself.

Judge Thomas Griffith, formerly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and professor Lisa Fairfax of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School will have five minutes each to introduce Jackson, whom they know personally.

Griffith often reviewed Jackson’s decisions as a trial judge while he served on the Court of Appeals and wrote to the Senate Judiciary Committee last month in support of Jackson's confirmation. Fairfax and Jackson were roommates for most of college and law school at Harvard University.

Jackson’s 10-minute opening statement will air on ABC News Television network with special coverage.

The Ginsburg rule, named for the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who famously deflected senators' questions when asked at her confirmation hearings how she would rule on a hypothetical case, follows the thinking that justices shouldn’t hint at how they would rule because they should be open-minded when an actual case comes before them.

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said in his opening statement that despite the Ginsburg rule, Jackson should be able to answer in detail questions about her own judicial philosophy -- and how she goes about deciding a case.

"It's incredibly important for a judge to tell us how she or he works out those principles in times that are new and confusing," Sasse said. "Unfortunately, too many of the court's decisions do not rest on solid constitutional foundations and reliable legal reasoning. Justices have too often written decisions to claim partisan policy victories and then retrofit bad legal or decision-making to justify that ruling."

"It’s for that reason that, while we should all respect the Ginsburg rule, the idea that judges sitting before this panel should not weigh in on hypothetical cases likely to come before the court, nominees do, nonetheless, have a duty to be very clear about their judicial philosophy, their legal views and interpretive principles," he continued. "The American people should not be asked to consent to any nominee who operates on principles that are obscure, confused or concealed."

-ABC News' Trish Turner

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., spoke about the historic nature of the hearings -- the first time in 233 years the Senate will consider the nomination of a Black woman to the Supreme Court.

"Historic is a word often overused in this place where a lot of history is made, but today seems truly to merit it," Blumenthal began. "Certainly it is an inflection point -- an inflection pinnacle -- for our nation. The appointment of a Black woman to the United States Supreme Court -- let's be very blunt -- should have happened years ago."

"This day is a giant leap into the present for our country and the court," he added. "The appointment of a Black woman to the court will make the court look more like America. Hopefully, too, it will make the court think more like America."

Blumenthal went on to praise Jackson's experience as a public defender, saying the American justice system works best when there is good counsel on both sides. Jackson is the first nominee to the nation's highest court with a background as a public defender.

"Representation matters for the legitimacy and credibility of our judicial system," he said. "People walking into your courtroom or any other in this country look to the human being, not just to the robes."

"Your presence will ensure the court more fully and deeply understands the lives and experiences of everyday Americans," he added.

Republicans have continually used their opening statements in Jackson’s confirmation hearings to lament Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings to the court in 2018.

Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, all brought up Kavanaugh in their opening statements, claiming Jackson will be treated with more respect.

"Judge Jackson, I can assure you that your hearing will feature none of that disgraceful behavior," Cruz said. "No one is going to inquire into your teenage dating habits. No one is going to ask you with mock severity, 'Do you like beer?'"

Cruz attempted to get ahead of the argument, he said, that rigorous questioning or a vote against Jackson’s confirmation means "you must somehow harbor racial animus" and went on to list instances when Democrats blocked nominations of racial minorities to judicial posts.

A theme emerging for Democrats, meanwhile, has been to preempt attacks from Republicans that Jackson is "soft on crime" with several of them speaking about her ties to law enforcement.