Potential swing vote Sen. Susan Collins says she'll meet with Supreme Court hopeful Jackson

March 3 (UPI) -- Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine announced on Thursday that she will meet next week with Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Joe Biden's nominee to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Bangor Daily News and The Hill reported that Collins' meeting with Jackson will occur on Tuesday.

Jackson began meeting with senators -- which is the traditional custom for Supreme Court nominees who are awaiting confirmation hearings -- earlier this week. Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. -- the Democratic and Republican Senate leaders -- were among those Jackson met with on Wednesday.

Collins, who is sometimes a swing voter in the Senate, has indicated that she's open to confirming Jackson, who would become the first Black woman to ascend to the Supreme Court. After a phone call with Biden last week, Collins said she was impressed by Jackson.

"She has impressive academic credentials. She is an experienced judge," Collins said of Jackson, according to the Daily News. "I will wait to make a decision until I have observed her hearing, read her decisions and major writings, and most important of all is the meeting I will have with her in my office."

Collins said this week that she'd know better whether she'll favor Jackson after meeting with the longtime federal appellate judge in-person.

Collins was one of only a handful of Republican senators who voted to confirm Jackson last year to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The Senate judiciary committee said Wednesday that Jackson's confirmation hearings will begin on March 21.