Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney brought to three the number of Republican senators to say they would vote in favor of supporting Ketanji Brown Jackson as Joe Biden’s nominee to the US supreme court.

Murkowski of Alaska put out a statement on Monday evening saying: “After multiple in-depth conversations with Judge Jackson and deliberative review of her record and recent hearings, I will support her historic nomination to be an Associate Justice on the US supreme court”

Then Romney, the Utah senator and former presidential candidate, issued a statement in which he praised Jackson as a well-qualified jurist and “a person of honor”. He congratulated her on “her expected confirmation”.

Last week the Republican Susan Collins of Maine was the first from her party to say she was a “yes” on Jackson, guaranteeing a bipartisan aspect to her confirmation days after an acrimonious Senate confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill.

Jackson is unlikely to need any Republican votes but the support of the moderates Murkowski, Romney and Collins, at least, will be a huge fillip to Joe Biden’s efforts to appeal across the aisle.

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