Supreme anger: Kavanaugh in
Brutal partisan battle ends with 50-48 Senate vote following FBI probe of sex attack claims
SEX-ASSAULT CLAIMS, PROTESTS FAIL TO DERAIL CONFIRMATION
A divided Senate narrowly approved Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination on Saturday, ending one of the most bitter confirmation battles in the history of the high court.
The near party-line vote in favor of President Trump's second Supreme Court nominee followed weeks of raucous partisan sparring over allegations that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted several women when he was younger.
Vice President Pence presided over the contentious vote, which was interrupted by protesters chanting “shame on you.”
Pence was repeatedly forced to pause the counting and hammer a gavel as he called for order in the chamber.
“This is a stain on American history!” one woman cried as the vote wrapped up. “Do you understand?”
Capitol Police dragged screaming demonstrators from the spectator gallery.
The final tally was 50-48. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia was the only Democrat in favor of Kavanaugh's confirmation. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) voted “present” as a courtesy to another GOP senator who was absent because he attended his daughter's wedding.
Kavanaugh was sworn by Chief Justice John Roberts in a private ceremony Saturday evening.
Trump, visibly buoyant, proudly expressed confidence in court's newest conservative jurist. As he watched the Senate vote from his private cabin aboard Air Force One, the president flashed two thumbs up and predicted Kavanaugh would be a “totally brilliant Supreme Court justice for many years.”
He also criticized Democrats for what he called a “horrible, horrible attack” on Kavanaugh over allegations of sexual miscconduct.
He called it “a horrible attack that nobody should have to go through.”
The tight victory in the Senate — a formality, as a procedural vote Friday had cleared Kavanaugh's path to office — was a major win for a President who has himself faced accusations of sexual misconduct.
Kavanaugh will give the court a solid 5-4 conservative majority. He replaces retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, who had been a moderate swing vote.
In remarks just before the vote, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said a vote for Kavanaugh was “a vote to end this brief, dark chapter in the Senate's history and turn the page toward a brighter tomorrow.”
Nearly as soon as Kavanaugh and his family stood with Trump at a White House event July 9, his nomina-
tion set off an intense partisan brawl rarely seen before on Capitol Hill. The bickering exploded into a bitter backand-forth as the fight focused less on the appeals court judge's right-wing record and more on a trio of women who came forward with disturbing claims of sexual misconduct.
Sexual assault survivors and protesters flooded Senate office buildings to confront Republicans. Beleaguered senators beefed up personal security, and walked through packed Capitol Hill corridors with police escorts.
The fight sparked a national conversation about sexual assault and elevated the “Me Too” movement to new heights.
Kavanaugh forcefully denied the allegations against him, and claimed bitterly that Democrats opposed to his nomination were carrying out “a calculated and orchestrated political hit, fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election.”
He also said the opposition was an act of “revenge on behalf of the Clintons.” Kavanaugh was among those who investigated the Clintons on the staff of independent counsel Kenneth Starr in the 1990s.
A California psychology professor, Christine Blasey Ford, took center stage in the matter after she accused Kavanaugh of trying to rape her at a 1982 house party. She was 15 at the time.
Kavanaugh angrily denied Ford's claims — as well as those of other women who accused him of sexual misconduct.
As the controversy swirled, Trump approved a truncated FBI background check into Kavanaugh's past. He also called Ford a “very fine woman” offering a “compelling” account.
But at a political rally Tuesday night in Mississippi, Trump threw fuel on the fire by openly mocking Ford to the delight of his cheering supporters.
Thousands of demonstrators opposing the appointment of the 53-yearold appeals court judge descended on Washington in the hours ahead of the Senate approval. About 100 protesters were handcuffed by police after they climbed the Capitol's East Steps in a fist-pumping, sign-waving protest.