BN 10/05 20:56 Kavanaugh Wins Backing From GOP’s Collins to Ensure Confirmation
Kavanaugh Confirmed to Supreme Court After Brutal Partisan Fight
2018-10-06 20:01:01.319 GMT
By Laura Litvan and Steven T. Dennis
(Bloomberg) -- Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the U.S.
Supreme Court after one of the most ferocious confirmation
battles in history, overcoming allegations of school-age sexual
assault and claims by Democrats that he was dishonest in Senate
hearings.
The 50-48 vote Saturday is a resounding victory for
President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell, whose top mission has been to engineer a rightward
turn in the federal judiciary, especially the nation’s highest
court. The vote, at the height of the "Me Too" movement, brought
throngs of demonstrators supporting and opposing Kavanaugh to
the Capitol and may affect the November election for control of
Congress.
"He’s going to be a great, great Supreme Court justice,"
Trump said earlier Saturday while leaving the White House for a
campaign rally in Topeka, Kansas.
Vice President Mike Pence took the Senate presiding
officer’s chair for the vote, which proceeded as shouting
protesters were removed from the visitors’ gallery.
Republicans are looking for Kavanaugh, 53, to cement a
conservative majority on the court, while Democrats say they’re
alarmed he could provide the fifth vote to overturn the Roe v.
Wade decision that legalized abortion.
Affirmative Action
He also could provide the decisive vote to outlaw
affirmative action programs and slash environmental regulations,
and he might be called on to rule on issues stemming from
special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Trump, the man
who chose him for the court.
Shortly before the vote, McConnell described Kavanaugh in a
Senate floor speech as a judicial "superstar" with "sterling
character."
"Judge Brett Kavanaugh is among the very best our nation
has to offer," McConnell said. "He will serve with distinction
on our highest court."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called Kavanaugh an
“extreme partisan” chosen by Trump and fellow conservatives to
overturn Roe and cut back Obamacare. "He gave one of the
bitterest, most partisan testimonies ever presented by a
nominee," said Schumer of New York.
Ford’s Allegation
Kavanaugh’s nomination was almost derailed three weeks ago
when Christine Blasey Ford accused him of trying to rape her at
a 1982 house party when they were in high school. Ford and
Kavanaugh testified at an extraordinary Senate Judiciary
Committee hearing on Sept. 27 where she described the alleged
assault, and he angrily and tearfully denied it.
The Senate delayed voting on confirmation for a week to
allow an FBI investigation that Republicans said didn’t
corroborate any wrongdoing by Kavanaugh. Democrats said the
probe was a whitewash and that agents didn’t interview witnesses
who could back up the claims.
McConnell said in an interview earlier Saturday that Senate
Republicans, not the White House, set the scope of the FBI
probe, including the decision not to interview Kavanaugh or
Ford.
"The White House took grief for setting the scope, but we
gave them the scope," said McConnell of Kentucky.
Putting Kavanaugh on the court gives Republicans a victory
before the Nov. 6 election, in which Democrats have a chance to
win control of the House and are making a longer shot bid for a
Senate majority. Democrats also are campaigning on the fight
over Kavanaugh, saying Republicans rushed the confirmation
without allowing a broader FBI investigation.
Three previously undecided senators, Republicans Susan
Collins of Maine and Jeff Flake of Arizona, and Democrat Joe
Manchin of West Virginia, sealed the victory for Kavanaugh by
announcing their support on Friday.
“I do not believe that these charges can fairly prevent
Judge Kavanaugh from serving on the court,” Collins said Friday
in a Senate floor speech, referring to Ford’s sexual assault
allegation. Collins, who supports abortion rights, said
Kavanaugh had assured her that he viewed Roe and the 1992 Casey
ruling that reaffirmed it to be important precedents.
During the Senate Judiciary hearing, Ford testified that
Kavanaugh held her down on a bed, tried to disrobe her and
covered her mouth to keep her from screaming. She described
"uproarious laughter" by Kavanaugh and Mark Judge, a friend of
his who has said he doesn’t recall such an incident.
The bitter fight brought an outpouring from women on social
media who recounted being sexually assaulted and being afraid to
tell anyone about it at the time. At the Senate hearing, the
nominee harshly criticized Democrats, arguing with them and
asking some about their drinking habits.
"This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and
orchestrated political hit, fueled with apparent pent-up anger
about President Trump and the 2016 election, fear that has been
unfairly stoked about my judicial record, revenge on behalf of
the Clintons and millions of dollars in money from outside,
left-wing opposition groups," Kavanaugh told the committee.
The hearing devolved into a partisan shouting match where
Kavanaugh at one point accused a senator of asking him a "phony
question." Democrats said he was dishonest in answering
questions about references in his high school yearbook that they
said bragged of heavy drinking and disrespect for girls. His
angry responses showed partisanship and a lack of judicial
temperament needed for the court, Democrats said.
McConnell said in the interview that he spoke with Trump
twice on the day of the hearing, and "I know we never discussed
giving up." The majority leader said he never thought Kavanaugh
should withdraw his name, although at times he "wasn’t totally
certain" he would win confirmation.
The FBI interviewed nine people related to allegations from
Ford and Deborah Ramirez, who said Kavanaugh exposed himself to
her at a drunken party when they were Yale University students.
Lawyers for both women said the FBI didn’t interview people who
could have corroborated their accounts.
‘No Clue’
After earlier calling Ford’s claim "very credible," the
Trump mocked her testimony at a rally Tuesday in Southaven,
Mississippi. Referring to a third accuser against the nominee,
Julie Swetnick, Trump said: “This woman had no clue what was
going on, and yet she made the most horrible charges.”
Kavanaugh will replace the retired Justice Anthony Kennedy,
whom he served as a law clerk in 1993-94. He is Trump’s second
high court appointee after Justice Neil Gorsuch, who joined the
court last year after Republicans refused to vote on President
Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland in 2016.
Democrats sought to block Kavanaugh’s confirmation since
soon after Trump nominated him in July. They said he would tilt
the court too far to the right. The administration refused to
release more than 100,000 pages of documents related to
Kavanaugh’s work in President George W. Bush’s White House.
Kavanaugh also worked on the independent counsel investigation
that led to President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in the late
1990s.
--With assistance from Arit John and Laura Curtis.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Laura Litvan in Washington at llitvan@bloomberg.net;
Steven T. Dennis in Washington at sdennis17@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net
Laurie Asséo, Justin Blum
2018-10-06 20:01:01.319 GMT
By Laura Litvan and Steven T. Dennis
(Bloomberg) -- Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the U.S.
Supreme Court after one of the most ferocious confirmation
battles in history, overcoming allegations of school-age sexual
assault and claims by Democrats that he was dishonest in Senate
hearings.
The 50-48 vote Saturday is a resounding victory for
President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell, whose top mission has been to engineer a rightward
turn in the federal judiciary, especially the nation’s highest
court. The vote, at the height of the "Me Too" movement, brought
throngs of demonstrators supporting and opposing Kavanaugh to
the Capitol and may affect the November election for control of
Congress.
"He’s going to be a great, great Supreme Court justice,"
Trump said earlier Saturday while leaving the White House for a
campaign rally in Topeka, Kansas.
Vice President Mike Pence took the Senate presiding
officer’s chair for the vote, which proceeded as shouting
protesters were removed from the visitors’ gallery.
Republicans are looking for Kavanaugh, 53, to cement a
conservative majority on the court, while Democrats say they’re
alarmed he could provide the fifth vote to overturn the Roe v.
Wade decision that legalized abortion.
Affirmative Action
He also could provide the decisive vote to outlaw
affirmative action programs and slash environmental regulations,
and he might be called on to rule on issues stemming from
special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Trump, the man
who chose him for the court.
Shortly before the vote, McConnell described Kavanaugh in a
Senate floor speech as a judicial "superstar" with "sterling
character."
"Judge Brett Kavanaugh is among the very best our nation
has to offer," McConnell said. "He will serve with distinction
on our highest court."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called Kavanaugh an
“extreme partisan” chosen by Trump and fellow conservatives to
overturn Roe and cut back Obamacare. "He gave one of the
bitterest, most partisan testimonies ever presented by a
nominee," said Schumer of New York.
Ford’s Allegation
Kavanaugh’s nomination was almost derailed three weeks ago
when Christine Blasey Ford accused him of trying to rape her at
a 1982 house party when they were in high school. Ford and
Kavanaugh testified at an extraordinary Senate Judiciary
Committee hearing on Sept. 27 where she described the alleged
assault, and he angrily and tearfully denied it.
The Senate delayed voting on confirmation for a week to
allow an FBI investigation that Republicans said didn’t
corroborate any wrongdoing by Kavanaugh. Democrats said the
probe was a whitewash and that agents didn’t interview witnesses
who could back up the claims.
McConnell said in an interview earlier Saturday that Senate
Republicans, not the White House, set the scope of the FBI
probe, including the decision not to interview Kavanaugh or
Ford.
"The White House took grief for setting the scope, but we
gave them the scope," said McConnell of Kentucky.
Putting Kavanaugh on the court gives Republicans a victory
before the Nov. 6 election, in which Democrats have a chance to
win control of the House and are making a longer shot bid for a
Senate majority. Democrats also are campaigning on the fight
over Kavanaugh, saying Republicans rushed the confirmation
without allowing a broader FBI investigation.
Three previously undecided senators, Republicans Susan
Collins of Maine and Jeff Flake of Arizona, and Democrat Joe
Manchin of West Virginia, sealed the victory for Kavanaugh by
announcing their support on Friday.
“I do not believe that these charges can fairly prevent
Judge Kavanaugh from serving on the court,” Collins said Friday
in a Senate floor speech, referring to Ford’s sexual assault
allegation. Collins, who supports abortion rights, said
Kavanaugh had assured her that he viewed Roe and the 1992 Casey
ruling that reaffirmed it to be important precedents.
During the Senate Judiciary hearing, Ford testified that
Kavanaugh held her down on a bed, tried to disrobe her and
covered her mouth to keep her from screaming. She described
"uproarious laughter" by Kavanaugh and Mark Judge, a friend of
his who has said he doesn’t recall such an incident.
The bitter fight brought an outpouring from women on social
media who recounted being sexually assaulted and being afraid to
tell anyone about it at the time. At the Senate hearing, the
nominee harshly criticized Democrats, arguing with them and
asking some about their drinking habits.
"This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and
orchestrated political hit, fueled with apparent pent-up anger
about President Trump and the 2016 election, fear that has been
unfairly stoked about my judicial record, revenge on behalf of
the Clintons and millions of dollars in money from outside,
left-wing opposition groups," Kavanaugh told the committee.
The hearing devolved into a partisan shouting match where
Kavanaugh at one point accused a senator of asking him a "phony
question." Democrats said he was dishonest in answering
questions about references in his high school yearbook that they
said bragged of heavy drinking and disrespect for girls. His
angry responses showed partisanship and a lack of judicial
temperament needed for the court, Democrats said.
McConnell said in the interview that he spoke with Trump
twice on the day of the hearing, and "I know we never discussed
giving up." The majority leader said he never thought Kavanaugh
should withdraw his name, although at times he "wasn’t totally
certain" he would win confirmation.
The FBI interviewed nine people related to allegations from
Ford and Deborah Ramirez, who said Kavanaugh exposed himself to
her at a drunken party when they were Yale University students.
Lawyers for both women said the FBI didn’t interview people who
could have corroborated their accounts.
‘No Clue’
After earlier calling Ford’s claim "very credible," the
Trump mocked her testimony at a rally Tuesday in Southaven,
Mississippi. Referring to a third accuser against the nominee,
Julie Swetnick, Trump said: “This woman had no clue what was
going on, and yet she made the most horrible charges.”
Kavanaugh will replace the retired Justice Anthony Kennedy,
whom he served as a law clerk in 1993-94. He is Trump’s second
high court appointee after Justice Neil Gorsuch, who joined the
court last year after Republicans refused to vote on President
Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland in 2016.
Democrats sought to block Kavanaugh’s confirmation since
soon after Trump nominated him in July. They said he would tilt
the court too far to the right. The administration refused to
release more than 100,000 pages of documents related to
Kavanaugh’s work in President George W. Bush’s White House.
Kavanaugh also worked on the independent counsel investigation
that led to President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in the late
1990s.
--With assistance from Arit John and Laura Curtis.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Laura Litvan in Washington at llitvan@bloomberg.net;
Steven T. Dennis in Washington at sdennis17@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net
Laurie Asséo, Justin Blum