Susan Collins.Photo: Pete Marovich/Bloomberg via Getty Images
On Friday, the Senate voted 51-49 to advanceBrett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination to final vote, expected to take place on Saturday, after no more than 30 hours of floor debate.
With most Republicans in favor of confirming the judge and most Democrats against as of this afternoon, there were only a handful of swing senators who will determine Kavanaugh’s fate and they have now all made it clear which direction their votes will go. Here is where the swing senators stand.
After voting to advance Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the full Senate, swing-vote SenatorSusan Collins of Mainedelivered a lengthy speech Friday afternoon revealing her intention to vote yes to confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court on Saturday.
“Our Supreme Court confirmation process has been in steady decline for more than 30 years. One can only hope that the Kavanaugh nomination is where the process has finally hit rock bottom,” Collins said during her speech on Capitol Hill. “I understand both viewpoints… But certain fundamental legal principles about due process, the presumption of innocence and fairness do bare on my thinking and I cannot abandon them.”
Of Ford, Collins said, “I believe that she is a survivor of a sexual assault and that this trauma has upended her life. Nevertheless, the four witnesses she named could not corroborate any of the events of that evening gathering where she says the assault occurred. … Fairness would dictate that the claims at least should meet a threshold of more likely than not as our standard. The facts presented do not meet that precedent. … Therefore, I do not believe that these charges can fairly prevent Judge Kavanaugh from serving on the court.”
Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizonahas said he will vote to confirm Kavanaugh on Saturday unless new information from the FBI investigation emerges beforehand.According to NBC’s Alex Moe, Flake “doesn’t see what would change. Says was a hard decision for everybody.”
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After voting against moving Kavanaugh’s nomination forward on Friday morning,Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaskasaid she believes Kavanaugh “is a good man” but was “not the right man for the court,”Politico reported.
Late Friday, she confirmed that she will be the sole GOP senator to oppose his nomination saying she has a high standard for the Supreme Court Bench.
“After the hearing that we all watched last week, last Thursday, it became clear to me — or was becoming clearer — that that appearance of impropriety has become unavoidable,” she said.
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The only Democrat to vote in favor of Kavanaugh,Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginiashocked the public when he voted yes in Friday morning’s cloture vote, helping advance Kavanaugh to a final confirmation vote.
“I have reservations about this vote given the serious accusations against Judge Kavanaugh and the temperament he displayed in the hearing. And my heart goes out to anyone who has experienced any type of sexual assault in their life,” Manchin wrote in a statement. “However, based on all of the information I have available to me, including the recently completed FBI report, I have found Judge Kavanaugh to be a qualified jurist who will follow the Constitution and determine cases based on the legal findings before him.”
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After Thursday’s hearings,where Brett Kavanaugh and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford— one of three women to accuse him of sexual misconduct — testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee,President Donald Trumpcalled foran FBI investigation into his nominee. (Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.)
After a week of interviews and other research — which critics have called inadequate —the FBI submitted its report early Thursday. The Senate then deliberated, deciding on a cloture vote on Friday morning, which Kavanaugh narrowly passed.
source: people.com
