Trump basks in Supreme triumph
THE US Senate voted narrowly, and largely along party lines, to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court on Saturday, following weeks of contentious debates that have highlighted and inflamed stark partisan divisions.
Kavanaugh was later sworn in at the court building in the capital as protesters gathered outside to denounce the latest justice on the top court.
US President Donald Trump basked in what he called a “tremendous victory,” having pushed through the nomination, despite the cloud hanging over the conservative judge, who fiercely denies the accusations of sexual assault against him.
The judge is expected to shift the nine-member court to the right.
Only one senator from the opposition Democratic Party voted to confirm the 53-year-old, with the final tally coming in at 50 to 48.
Trump thanked Democrat Senator Joe Manchin for crossing the floor, but slammed Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski as “disgraceful” for being the sole Republican senator to vote against Kavanaugh’s appointment.
“I thought it was a very, very sad vote. I thought it was, frankly, disgraceful,” Trump told Fox News in a phone interview.
The nomination process took place ahead of next month’s key mid-term elections.
The Republicans are seeking to hold on to majorities in the Senate and the House of Representatives, while the Democrats want to flip at least one chamber to check Trump’s power.
As he stumped for local candidates in Kansas just hours after the confirmation vote, Trump rallied his base.
“Each of you will have a chance in four weeks to render your verdict,” he told the cheering crowd.
Trump attacked the opposition, who have been using the Kavanaugh nomination to galvanise their own supporters.
“You don’t hand matches to an arsonist and you don’t hand power to an angry left-wing mob,” Trump said. “The Democrats have become too extreme and too dangerous to govern.”
Democrats, speaking in the Senate and addressing protesters outside the court, urged them to channel their anger against the president and his second appointment to the top court in less than two years, to the polls.
“Change in America must come from where change in America always comes – the ballot box,” said Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Democrats in the Senate.“President Trump’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court has been one of the saddest moments in the history of the Senate,” said Schumer, who had insisted Kavanaugh lacked the temperament to be a Supreme Court justice.
Kavanaugh’s vociferous testimony before the Senate, in which he shouted at lawmakers as he rejected the assault claims and charged they were part of a left-wing plot, raised questions about his partisanship.
Opponents of Kavanaugh say the vote was rushed through without a proper investigation into the assault claims. The Republican majority was also able to limit formal debate on Kavanaugh in the Senate to just 30 hours.
Michael Bromwich, a lawyer for Christine Blasey Ford, said he was “appalled” by how lawmakers handled the allegations.
Vice-president Mike Pence presided over the vote, which was briefly interrupted at points when protesters in the gallery shouted, “shame on you”. |
Change in America must come from where change in America always comes – the ballot box CHUCK SCHUMER Leader of Democrats in the Senate