Divided U.S. Senate votes to advance Brett Kavanaugh nomination to Supreme Court; final vote unclear
WASHINGTON – A bitterly divided U.S. Senate secured enough votes Friday to proceed to final consideration of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, but it was still unclear whether he will have enough support to be placed on the high court.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted to end debate but has not said whether she will vote for his confirmation.Â
A vote would require 51 votes for passage – or a 50-50 vote with Vice President Mike Pence breaking a tie – as the confirmation vote. The Senate is split with 51 Republicans and 49 Democrats.Â
If Pence is needed to get Kavanaugh over the finish line, it would be the first time a vice president has cast the deciding vote for a Supreme Court nominee.
Senators voted 51 to 49Â Â to end debate with two lawmakers crossing party lines.
“Very proud of the U.S. Senate for voting “YES†to advance the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh!” President Donald Trump tweeted.
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski was the only Republican to vote against Kavanaugh.
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin was the only Democrat to vote to end debate. He has not said whether he will vote to confirm Kavanaugh.
About two hours before the vote, Manchin headed to the secure basement room inside the Capitol complex to continuing reviewing the 46-page FBI report on Kavanaugh.
Reporters pounced, asking Manchin if he’d made up his mind. He said he hadn’t. Then kept walking.
Two of the Republican holdouts – Collins and Jeff Flake of Arizona  – had seemed pleased Thursday with the report.
Flake backed ending debate but has not said whether he will vote for confirmation.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a close friend of Flake’s who helped convince Flake to call for an additional FBI investigation said before Friday’s vote that he didn’t know what Flake would do. But the two talked ahead of the vote, Coons said, and Flake allowed him to make multiple points.
Collins said she will announce Friday afternoon whether she will vote to confirm Kavanaugh.
Murkowski sat stoned faced after casting her vote against ending the debate. She sat with her hand clasped across her lap and stared straight ahead through most of the vote.
At one point, Collins leaned in and the two of them chatted. Collins put her right hand on Murkowski’s arm rest.
An opinion piece Kavanaugh wrote Thursday was meant to reassure senators who had expressed concern about his temperament after his angry testimony last week, said two officials familiar with the process.
But the American Bar Association announced Friday it’s reopening its evaluation of Kavanaugh because of “new information of a material nature regarding temperament.” The review will not be done before the final vote. Republicans have been touting the ABA’s previous “well qualified” rating of Kavanaugh as the “gold standard.”
Kavanaugh’s confirmation has intensified the polarization between parties as both Republicans and Democrats hurled insults and salacious claims over the weeks to keep public opinion on their side.
Kavanaugh’s nomination, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. said before the vote, “will go down as one of the saddest, most sordid chapters in the long history of the federal judiciary.â€
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., urged his colleagues to send a message to the American people that some core principles remain unfettered by partisan passions of this moment.
“Facts matter. Fairness matters. Presumption of innocence (matters),” McConnell said.
The vote on Kavanaugh, who is accused of sexual assault, has been seen as a test for the #MeToo movement and its results could reverberate into next month’s midterm elections. In the end, though, Kavanaugh’s appointment would tilt the balance of power on the high court to conservatives for years to come.Â
Both parties think the fight will motivate their voters to get to the polls Nov. 6. Democrats are seen as having a good shot of capturing the House, fueled in part by anger among female voters. But Senate Democrats are defending multiples seats in states President Trump easily carried, making the Kavanaugh vote a potential liability.Â
Manchin was confronted in the Capitol Thursday by a protester who said she was a victim of sexual assault. On Monday, Manchin talked on a conference call with some of the more than a dozen women who had staged a sit-in at his campaign headquarters in West Virginia.
Each vote in the razor-thin Republican majority will carry more weight than usual as Kavanaugh’s appointment will hold for life.Â
More: Brett Kavanaugh and the FBI report on allegations against him: Here’s what we know now
More: Inside the secure room where senators saw the secret FBI report on Brett Kavanaugh
More: Brett Kavanaugh says he regrets ‘sharp’ tone during Senate hearing, promises to be ‘impartial’
Posted!
1 of 30
2 of 30
3 of 30
4 of 30
5 of 30
6 of 30
7 of 30
8 of 30
9 of 30
10 of 30
11 of 30
12 of 30
13 of 30
14 of 30
15 of 30
16 of 30
17 of 30
18 of 30
19 of 30
20 of 30
21 of 30
22 of 30
23 of 30
24 of 30
25 of 30
26 of 30
27 of 30
28 of 30
29 of 30
30 of 30
Kavanaugh compromise: Chris Coons, Republican whisperer, is ‘in the middle of everything’
More: Truth about Kavanaugh accusations hard to find as both sides hurl salacious details
Kavanaugh’s nomination always was destined to become a partisan battleground because of the justice he was picked to replace: Anthony Kennedy, the Supreme Court’s swing vote, who had sided with his liberal colleagues on issues such as abortion, affirmative action and gay rights. Kennedy, 81, retired after three decades in the middle of the court’s ideological battles.
Posted!
Rachel Mitchell, counsel for Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans, questions Christine Blasey Ford as Senators, from left, Ben Sasse, R-Neb., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Mike Lee, R-Utah., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, listen during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
1 of 89
2 of 89
3 of 89
4 of 89
5 of 89
6 of 89
7 of 89
8 of 89
9 of 89
10 of 89
11 of 89
12 of 89
13 of 89
14 of 89
15 of 89
16 of 89
17 of 89
18 of 89
19 of 89
20 of 89
21 of 89
22 of 89
23 of 89
24 of 89
25 of 89
26 of 89
27 of 89
28 of 89
29 of 89
30 of 89
31 of 89
32 of 89
33 of 89
34 of 89
35 of 89
36 of 89
37 of 89
38 of 89
39 of 89
40 of 89
41 of 89
42 of 89
43 of 89
44 of 89
45 of 89
46 of 89
47 of 89
48 of 89
49 of 89
50 of 89
51 of 89
52 of 89
53 of 89
54 of 89
55 of 89
56 of 89
57 of 89
58 of 89
59 of 89
60 of 89
61 of 89
62 of 89
63 of 89
64 of 89
65 of 89
66 of 89
67 of 89
68 of 89
69 of 89
70 of 89
71 of 89
72 of 89
73 of 89
74 of 89
75 of 89
76 of 89
77 of 89
78 of 89
79 of 89
80 of 89
81 of 89
82 of 89
83 of 89
84 of 89
85 of 89
86 of 89
87 of 89
88 of 89
89 of 89
Contributing: Eliza Collins, David Jackson