Senate Confirms
Kavanaugh to Supreme Court, Ending a Clash With Lasting Fallout
Oct. 6, 2018
WASHINGTON — A deeply divided Senate voted on
Saturday to confirm Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, delivering a
victory to President Trump and ending a rancorous Washington battle that began
as a debate over ideology and jurisprudence and concluded with questions of
sexual misconduct.
Mr. Trump said Judge Kavanaugh would be
quickly sworn in. “I applaud and congratulate the U.S. Senate for confirming
our GREAT NOMINEE, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, to the United States Supreme
Court,” he wrote on Twitter.
“Later today, I will sign his Commission of Appointment, and he will be
officially sworn in. Very exciting!”
The Senate vote was 50 to 48, almost entirely along party lines.
It did not go smoothly — protesters repeatedly interrupted the proceedings,
with the Capitol Police dragging screaming demonstrators out of the gallery as
the senators sat somberly at their wooden desks in the chamber below. “This is
a stain on American history!” one woman cried, as the vote wrapped up. “Do you
understand?”
The final result was expected; all
senators had announced their intentions by Friday. Senator Lisa Murkowski of
Alaska — the lone Republican to break with her party —
was recorded as “present” instead of “no” as a gesture to a colleague, Senator
Steve Daines of Montana, who was attending his daughter’s wedding and would
have voted “yes.” By voting present, she maintained the two-vote margin that
had pushed the nomination past a crucial procedural hurdle on Friday. Senator
Joe Manchin III of West Virginia was the lone Democrat to support Judge
Kavanaugh.
But while the brawl over Judge Kavanaugh’s
confirmation may be over, people on both sides of the debate agree that it will
have lasting ramifications on the Senate,
the Supreme Court and the nation.
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