By a narrow margin, the US Senate ends a bitter partisan fight that had transfixed Americans with claims that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted women in the 1980s
The US Senate on Saturday narrowly confirmed Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, capping a tumultuous confirmation process marked by partisan rancour, tearful testimony and allegations of sexual assault and bad faith.
Kavanaugh was confirmed 50-48-1, the narrowest margin in modern history. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who opposed the nomination, voted present to balance out a fellow Republican who could not attend but wanted to vote “yes”.
Kavanaugh’s confirmation – once considered certain, only to be upended by multiple allegations of sexual misconduct over the past three weeks – is a major political victory for US President Donald Trump and his Republican backers, who are on the cusp of cementing a conservative majority on the nation’s highest court.
Both parties bemoaned a broken confirmation process – albeit for different reasons – that could have a lasting effect on the Senate and further inflame a nation already polarised by tribal politics amid the cultural reckoning of the #MeToo era.
The loss has demoralised Democrats, with angry protesters on Capitol Hill promising revenge at the ballot box on November 6 and beyond.
Amid tighter-than-usual security, hundreds of protesters against Kavanaugh assembled on the grounds of the Capitol and at the Supreme Court. They chanted, “Vote them out! Vote them out!” and carried signs including “I am a survivor, not a troublemaker!”
As protesters chanted “Shame!” and “November is coming!” police took several dozen protesters down the steps and put them in plastic flex-cuffs.
Protesters in the Senate gallery also interrupted the vote and were removed.
A town house near the Washington residence of Republican Senator Susan Collins flew the flag of her home state Maine upside down to protest her backing of Kavanaugh.
As the day wore on, protesters in front of the Supreme Court pushed past security barriers and went to the east front of the US Capitol where several dozen climbed exterior stairs, only to be removed by police.
Trump scored a clear win in his drive to cement conservative dominance of the High Court, a bitter outcome for Democrats who could not get their own liberal nominee confirmed because of Republican delaying tactics in 2016.
Trump told reporters as he left the White House before the vote for a rally in Topeka, Kansas, that he thinks Brett Kavanaugh is “going to be a great Supreme Court justice for many years to come”.
Trump also posted on Twitter after the vote:
“I applaud and congratulate the US Senate for confirming our GREAT NOMINEE, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, to the United States Supreme Court,” Trump wrote. “Later today, I will sign his Commission of Appointment, and he will be officially sworn in. Very exciting!”
In final remarks just before the voting, 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”.
McConnell credited the protests in the Capitol, at lawmakers’ homes, in restaurants and at airports for unifying Republican lawmakers and the party’s voter base. He said the demonstrations had helped bolster support for Kavanaugh, and will energise Republican voters in next month’s election.
“We’ve been wondering how we can fire up our own people because we know the Democrats are energised going into an off-year election,” McConnell said before the vote on Saturday.
Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York looked ahead to November, appealing to voters beyond the Senate chamber: “Change must come from where change in America always begins: the ballot box.”
With divisive cases on abortion rights, immigration, transgender rights and business regulation headed for the court, Kavanaugh likely would give conservatives the upper hand.
His confirmation would also allow Trump to hit the campaign trail ahead of the November 6 congressional elections bragging that he has kept his 2016 promise to mould a more conservative American judiciary.
Capping a tense day on Friday, Collins of Maine declared on the Senate floor, “I will vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh.”
She praised his judicial record and argued there was no corroboration of a sexual assault accusation made against him by psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford. Two other women also accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct decades ago. Kavanaugh has denied all the allegations.
Trump said after the vote that he was “100 percent” certain that Ford named the wrong person when she accused Kavanaugh in her testimony.
One of those women, Debbie Ramirez, a classmate of Kavanaugh’s at Yale University in the 1980s, issued a statement on Saturday saying that as she watched the Senate debate, “I feel like I’m right back at Yale where half the room is laughing and looking the other way. Only this time, instead of drunk college kids, it is US senators who are deliberately ignoring his behaviour,” she said.
Moments after Collins pledged to back Kavanaugh, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, who is in a tough race for re-election in West Virginia where Trump is popular, also declared his support, leaving little doubt of a Republican victory.
Senators then endured a rare all-night session to satisfy the requirement of 30 hours of debate following Friday’s vote.
As the debate entered its final hours, the divisions between Republicans and Democrats festered.
Republican Senator Deb Fischer described Kavanaugh as “one of the most thoughtful, pre-eminent judges in our nation.”
The sexual assault allegations, Fischer said, led the Senate confirmation process into “a shameful spectacle and a disservice to everyone involved,” adding that there was no evidence Kavanaugh was the perpetrator.
Democratic Senator Edward Markey countered, saying Kavanaugh has been a “rubber stamp for a far right-wing agenda.” Referring to the judge’s sworn response to Ford’s testimony, Markey said, “We heard anger. We heard belligerence. We heard evasiveness. We heard disrespect.”
Senate Republicans, except for Lisa Murkowski, stood by Kavanaugh in a move that could resonate, particularly with women voters, in the midterm elections to determine control of the Senate and House of Representatives.
