KAVANAUGH NOMINATION | US Senate confirms Judge Kavanaugh to Supreme Court

-- 4 P.M. --

WASHINGTON

The U.S. Senate just moments ago voted 50-48 to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. The vote was along party lines, as expected, with Republican lawmakers backing President Trump's choice for the highest court.

President Trump said he intends to have the new associate justice sworn in tonight.

US Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, voted no while Rob Portman, R-Ohio, voted yes.

Republicans control the Senate by a 51-49 margin.

Protesters interrupted noisily in the gallery until order could be restored. One screamed: “I am a patriot!”

The nomination fight was defined in recent weeks by sexual assault accusations, especially Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation that a drunken Kavanaugh tried to rape her at a 1982 high school gathering. Kavanaugh vehemently denied all the claims.

All but one Republican lined up behind him, arguing that a truncated FBI investigation turned up no corroborating witnesses and that Kavanaugh had sterling credentials for the court. Exactly one month from elections in which House and Senate control are in play, Democrats tried making sure that female voters were paying attention.

“Republicans are saying: ‘Your voices just don’t matter,’” Sen. Patty Murray of Washington said Saturday. “Your experiences, your trauma, your pain, your heartache, your anger — none of that matters. Their message is, ‘We don’t have to listen. We don’t have to care. Sit down and be quiet.’”

About 100 anti-Kavanaugh protesters climbed the Capitol’s East Steps, pumping fists and waving signs, and U.S. Capitol Police officers began arresting some of them. Hundreds of other demonstrators watched from behind barricades. Protesters have roamed Capitol Hill corridors and grounds daily, raising anxieties and underscoring the passions the nomination fight has aroused.

Portman said in a news release: “Brett Kavanaugh has the qualifications and experience necessary to ably serve on the Supreme Court and I was proud to support his nomination. I’ve known him for 18 years as someone who is thoughtful and compassionate, someone who has a big heart and has the humility to listen. Just as he has been highly regarded as a fair-minded and independent judge on the Circuit Court, I believe that is how he will be viewed on the Supreme Court.

“As I said on the floor of the Senate, the confirmation process has become poisonous, and senators on both sides of the aisle need to work together to repair some of the damage to the institution and the country. It’s going to take time for the Senate and the country to heal from this ugly ordeal. But for now, let me make a modest suggestion. Let’s take a step back from the brink and lower the rhetoric. Let’s treat disagreements like disagreements, not as proof that our opponents are bad people. Let’s hold up quiet cooperation, as we saw this week with the opioid legislation instead of loud confrontation.”

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, said Kavanaugh lacks the temperament and character to be a member of the Supreme Court.

“Today’s vote to confirm him will do lasting damage to the integrity of the Court, as well as the American people’s trust in its institutions to do the right thing. Kavanaugh’s confirmation has reinforced what we already knew: Republicans want a Supreme Court willing to fight for corporations’ rights as a ‘person,’ but not for the rights of workers to collectively bargain and earn a living wage,” Ryan said in a statement.

They want a court that will fight to uphold Citizens United and allow unlimited money in our political system, but not for a loving same-sex couple to join together in marriage. And, most importantly, they want a court that will toss aside established precedent and take away a women’s right to her own healthcare and reproductive decisions. These things are of such high priority to them, that they’re willing to ram through a person who has been credibly accused of multiple instances of sexual assault, simply because he’ll vote their way on the bench.

“Like so many millions of Americans, I was moved by Dr. Blasey Ford’s testimony. I believe her. I am ashamed at the Republican’s treatment of Dr. Ford, and the rushed, incomplete investigation that came out of it. It was never about the truth. Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation is truly a low point for our great nation.”

-- 3 P.M. --

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, took to the Senate floor today and opposed Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Brown pointed to Kavanaugh’s record of anti-worker, anti-women, and anti-consumer rulings at a time when the Supreme Court continues to hand down rulings that hurt Ohio workers and families.

Brown also expressed his gratitude and admiration to Dr. Christine Blasey Ford as she came forward at great personal cost to share her story.

The Senate is scheduled to vote at 3:30 p.m. Watch Vindy.com for updates.

“Judge Kavanaugh’s record is clear. He has consistently sided with the most powerful special interests, not American workers. The stakes for Ohioans are too high to give this justice a lifetime appointment to our highest court,” said Brown. in a news release before the vote

In August, after reviewing Judge Kavanaugh’s record and meeting with him face-to-face, Brown announced his opposition.

-- 2:30 P.M. --

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats and demonstrators vented their rage and resistance, but the Senate rolled toward approving Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination Saturday as President Donald Trump and Republicans approached an election-season triumph in the most electrifying confirmation battle in years.

Capping a venomous struggle that transfixed Americans when it veered into claims that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted women in the 1980s — claims he fiercely denied — the 53-year-old conservative’s nomination was on track for afternoon approval. He seemed certain to win by a slender two votes in a near party-line roll call, among the narrowest margins ever.

Trump weighed in Saturday morning on behalf of the man he nominated in July and who as justice would tilt the court rightward, possibly for decades. “Big day for America!” he tweeted.

Democrats paraded to a nearly empty Senate chamber overnight and into Saturday to lambaste the nominee. They said he’d push the court further right, including possible sympathetic rulings for Trump himself. And they said his record and fuming testimony at a now-famous Senate Judiciary Committee hearing showed he lacked the fairness, temperament and even honesty to become a justice.