Highlights from Senate vote to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson

As the confirmation vote nears, Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who presided over Jackson's confirmation hearings, called her ascension to the high court "a glass shattering achievement for America."

"Today, the members of this Senate have the opportunity to take a monumental step forward. We will vote to confirm a once in a generation legal talent, a jurist with outstanding credentials and a lifetime of experience and the first-ever African American woman to serve as Justice of the Supreme Court," Durbin said.

Durbin briefly walked the Senate through some of the struggles African Americans and women have faced in this country, asking senators to consider that when the Supreme Court first met in the Capitol building in February of 1801, there were one million slaves in a nation of five million people.

"Women had no place in that first Supreme Court chamber, and Black women would only enter to clean it in the dark of night," he said. "We know what followed. Americans battled in slavery, saw a bloody civil war, decades of efforts to break down racial barriers -- and the efforts continue to this day."

But with Jackson's nomination, Durbin said millions of Americans will see themselves represented in her.

"This confirmation of the first Black woman to the Supreme Court honors the history that has come before it It honors the struggles of the past of the men and women who waged them. And this confirmation draws America one step closer one step to healing our nation," he said.

Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., who was elected to the Senate last January in a special election, highlighted the impact of Georgia voters on Jackson's expected confirmation and thanked them from the Senate floor Thursday.

"The people of Georgia made this appointment possible by making history last year," said Warnock.

Because Supreme Court nominations require only a simple majority of 51 votes, Democrats taking control of Georgia's two Senate seats last year -- allowing them 50 seats and Vice President Kamala Harris as a tie-breaking vote -- was essential to Biden's ability to get a nominee confirmed.

Warnock said his office has received thousands of emails and phone calls from Georgians in every corner of the state voicing their support for Jackson's confirmation and echoing Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said of Jackson's nomination: "Nobody's going to steal my joy."

"Yes, I'm a senator, I'm a pastor, but beyond all of that, I'm the father of a young Black girl. I know how much it means for Judge Jackson to have navigated the double jeopardy of racism and sexism to now stand in the glory of this moment in all of her excellence," he said. "For my five-year-old daughter and for so many young women in this country -- but, really, if we're thinking about it right, for all of us -- seeing Judge Jackson ascend to the Supreme Court reflects the promise of progress on which our democracy rests."

With limited debate ahead, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., took to the Senate floor to praise Jackson as one of the most qualified nominees he's ever considered in his 48 years in the Senate and scolded lawmakers for a process he said has been corroded with partisan politics.

"It's distressing, it's disheartening and as a dean of the Senate, it is saddening," Leahy said.

Leahy has participated in 21 Supreme Court confirmation processes, more than any other sitting senator.

"I've long lamented the increase in political gamesmanship packed in our current confirmation process. And many times on this floor I've warned about the dire consequences for our courts and for our democracy at converting our confirmation process into a zero-sum game where one party wins and one party loses," he said, noting that he's more than once voted for Republican judicial nominees.

"To change that game simply requires we have some adults in the room," he said. "We all come here for the United States not to score, headlines or trending tweets, but simply to do our jobs."

Turning back to Biden's nominee, Leahy said Jackson is "the justice we need now -- for the generations to come for our children or grandchildren. For all of us."

"History will remember the votes cast here today," he added.

The Senate has voted 53-47 to limit debate on Judge Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court, paving the way for a final confirmation vote later in the afternoon.

A beaming Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who praised Jackson as "worthy" in an emotional soliloquy during her confirmation hearings, presided over the Senate chamber for the cloture vote.

Because the Senate filibuster rule for Supreme Court nominations was modified by Senate Republicans in 2017, Judge Jackson's nomination requires only a simple majority, or 51 senators, in both votes Thursday.

Since her formal nomination 42 days ago, Jackson held one-on-one meetings with 97 senators on Capitol Hill, according to the White House.

-ABC News' Devin Dwyer