Kavanaugh fight divides US

A bitter partisan battle that gripped the US ended on Saturday with the Senate’s 5048 vote — the narrowest margin in 130 years — to confirm Brett Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court justice.

But the repercussions for next month’s congressional midterm elections, the ideological bent of the high court and the treatment of sexualassault victims will reverberate for decades to come.

The US President Donald Trump and Republicans — convinced the fight has bolstered their efforts to halt a Democratic Party surge in the vote to control Congress — reveled in a victory that will cement a conservative majority on the court.

Kavanaugh’s nomination was almost derailed three weeks ago when California professor Christine Blasey Ford accused him of trying to rape her at a 1982 party when they were in high school.

It led to scenes of public anger, culminating in shouting protesters being removed from the Senate’s visitors’ gallery during the vote.

The whole episode was reminiscent of Clarence Thomas’s Supreme Court nomination 27 years ago. While he overcame accusations of sexual harassment to win confirmation, a backlash ushered in a wave of female lawmakers.

Whether this latest dispute will produce a similar result is looking increasingly questionable.

One thing is certain: it’s deepened the fissures in an already divided nation.

Win for Trump

The president flashed two thumbs up aboard Air Force One as the Senate confirmed Kavanaugh, marking a significant addition to his legacy.

Trump told reporters he was “100 per cent” certain Ford named the wrong person and credited his decision to attack the California professor in a speech last week as a turning point for the nomination battle.