Kavanaugh Supreme Court Nomination

President Donald Trump nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh to become an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States on July 9, 2018, filling the vacancy left by the retirement of Anthony Kennedy. When nominated, Kavanaugh was a sitting judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The Senate Judiciary Committee began Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing on September 4. During the confirmation process, Kavanaugh was accused of sexually assaulting Christine Blasey Ford thirty-six years prior, while they were both in high school in 1982. The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed its scheduled confirmation to allow both Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh to respond. In the interim, two other women (Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick) alleged separate instances of sexual assault. Kavanaugh categorically denied allegations made by Ford, Ramirez and Swetnick.

Both Kavanaugh and Blasey Ford were questioned by members of the Judiciary Committee and Arizona-based sex crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell on September 27. The following day, the Judiciary Committee voted 11–10 to send the nomination to the floor. Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and later the full Senate Judiciary Committee requested a week-long FBI supplemental background investigation into the sexual assault allegations.

Background

Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy (generally considered a moderate "swing" vote on the court) announced his retirement from the Supreme Court on June 27, 2018, after having served on the court for over 30 years. His resignation took effect on July 31, 2018. From 1993 to 1994, Kavanaugh served as a law clerk for Justice Kennedy.

Nomination to the Supreme Court

Kavanaugh was officially announced as the nominee for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States on July 9, 2018, selected as the Supreme Court nominee from among a list of "25 highly qualified potential nominees" considered by the Trump Administration. Reasons cited by President Trump for the nomination of Kavanaugh included his "impeccable credentials, unsurpassed qualifications, and a proven commitment to equal justice under the law" with the emphasis that "what matters is not a judge's political views, but whether they can set aside those views to do what the law and the Constitution require.”

Voting Alignment

In reference to Kavanaugh's voting alignment if confirmed, FiveThirtyEight used Lee Epstein et al.'s Judicial Common Space scores (which are not based on a judge's behavior, but rather the ideology scores of either home state senators or the appointing president) to find that Kavanaugh would likely be more conservative than Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, but less conservative than Justice Clarence Thomas, if placed on the Supreme Court. During the confirmation process, Senator Ted Cruz stated that Kavanaugh joined Judge Merrick Garland's (President Obama's Supreme Court pick) rulings on 28 out of 30 cases, and he joined his opinions in 27 out of 28 cases.

The Washington Post's statistical analysis estimated that the ideologies of most of Trump's announced candidates were "statistically indistinguishable" and placed Kavanaugh between Justices Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito.

Senate Action on Cloture

For Kavanaugh to be confirmed, he needed to receive a majority vote in favor of confirmation from the full Senate. If the vote had been tied, Vice President Mike Pence would have cast the tie-breaking vote.

On October 5, the Senate voted 51-49 for cloture, advancing the nomination to a final floor vote on October 6. The vote was almost entirely along party lines, with the exception of Democrat Joe Manchin voting yes and Republican Lisa Murkowski voting no.

Full Senate Vote on Kavanaugh Nomination

The full Senate vote on the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh took place on October 6, 2018. Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) announced that he will not attend the vote, to be present instead at his daughter's wedding in Montana. Because of this, Lisa Murkowski agreed to pair her vote by voting "Present" on the nomination, while registering her opposition in the Congressional Record.  [Thus the nomination of Kavanaugh passed with a vote of 50 in favor and 48 opposed.]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brett_Kavanaugh_Supreme_Court_nomination