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U.S. NEWS Saturday 6 OctOber 2018
CONFIRMATION fought against the back- Vice President Mike Pence
Continued from Front drop of the #MeToo move- planned to be available
Some of them continued ment and Trump's unyield- Saturday in case his tie-
raising concerns that Ka- ing support of the nominee, breaking vote was needed,
vanaugh would push the opposing forces that left which now seems unlikely.
court further to the right, Kavanaugh's fate in doubt In a procedural vote that
including with possible sym- for weeks. handed Republicans an ini-
pathetic rulings for Presi- Manchin, the only remain- tial victory, senators voted
dent Donald Trump, the ing undeclared lawmaker, 51-49 Friday to limit debate
man who nominated him. used an emailed statement and keep the nomination
But the case against Ka- to announce his support alive, defeating Democrat-
vanaugh had long since for Kavanaugh moments ic efforts to scuttle it with
been taken over by al- after Collins finished talk- endless delays.
legations that he sexually ing, making him the only The debate sparked smol-
abused women decades Democrat supporting the dering resentment by parti-
ago — accusations he em- nominee. Manchin faces sans on both sides, on and
phatically denied. a competitive re-election off the Senate floor.
In the pivotal moment Fri- race next month in a state "What left wing groups
day, Collins, perhaps the Trump carried in 2016 by 42 and their Democratic allies
chamber's most moderate percentage points. have done to Judge Kava-
Republican, proclaimed "My heart goes out to any- naugh is nothing short of
her support for Kavanaugh one who has experienced monstrous," Republican Ju-
at the end of a Senate floor any type of sexual assault in diciary Committee Chair-
speech that lasted nearly their life," Manchin said. But man Chuck Grassley of
45 minutes. While she was he added that based on Iowa declared before the
among a handful of Re- the FBI report, "I have found vote. He accused Demo-
publicans who helped sink Judge Kavanaugh to be a crats of emboldening pro- Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, speaks with report-
Trump's quest to obliterate qualified jurist who will fol- testers: "They have encour- ers just after a deeply divided Senate pushed Brett Kavanaugh's
Supreme Court nomination past a key procedural hurdle, setting
President Barack Obama's low the Constitution and aged mob rule." up a likely final showdown vote for Saturday, at the Capitol in
health care law last year, determine cases based on On the other side, Senate Washington, Friday, Oct. 5, 2018.
this time she proved instru- the legal findings before Democratic leader Chuck Associated Press
mental in delivering a tri- him." Schumer of New York
umph to Trump. Protesters chanted "Shame" called the fight "a sorry epi- and church. sion" against him fueled by
Collins told fellow senators at Manchin later when he logue to the brazen theft of Democrats also chal- their hatred of Trump.
that Christine Blasey Ford's talked to reporters outside Justice Scalia's seat." That lenged Kavanaugh's hon- Kavanaugh would replace
dramatic testimony last his office. reflected Democrats' last- esty, temperament and the retired Justice Antho-
week describing Kavana- Republicans control the ing umbrage over Repub- ability to be nonpartisan af- ny Kennedy, who was a
ugh's alleged 1982 assault Senate by a meager 51-49 licans' 2016 refusal to even ter he fumed at last week's swing vote on issues includ-
was "sincere, painful and margin. Support from Col- consider Merrick Garland, Judiciary hearing that ing abortion, campaign
compelling." But she said lins and Manchin would President Obama's nomi- Democrats had launched finance and same-sex
the FBI had found no cor- give Kavanaugh at least 51 nee to replace the late An- a "search and destroy mis- marriage.q
roborating evidence from votes. tonin Scalia.
witnesses whose names Three female GOP senators When Trump nominated
Ford had provided. — Jodi Ernst of Iowa, West Kavanaugh in July, Demo-
"We will be ill-served in the Virginia's Shelley Moore crats leapt to oppose him,
long run if we abandon the Capito and Cindy Hyde- saying that past statements
presumption of innocence Smith of Mississippi, sat di- and opinions showed he'd
and fairness, tempting rectly behind Collins as be a threat to the Roe v.
though it may be," she said. she spoke. Majority Leader Wade case that assured
"We must always remem- Mitch McConnell of Ken- the right to abortion. They
ber that it is when passions tucky sat directly in front of said he also seemed ready
are most inflamed that fair- Collins and pivoted his seat to rule for Trump if federal
ness is most in jeopardy." around to face her. A few authorities probing his 2016
Those passions were on full Democrats sat stone-faced campaign's alleged con-
display this week in a fight nearby. nections to Russia try to pur-
that could energize both When she finished, Collins sue him in court.
parties' voters in elections received applause from Yet Kavanaugh's pathway
for control of Congress the roughly two dozen GOP to confirmation seemed un-
just five weeks away. The senators present. fettered until Ford accused
showdown drew raucous Republican Lisa Murkowski him of drunkenly sexually
demonstrators — largely of Alaska, a fellow moder- assaulting her in a locked
anti-Kavanaugh — to the ate and a friend of Col- bedroom at a 1982 high
Capitol, where they raised lins, is the only Republican school gathering. Two oth-
tensions by repeatedly who has indicated she will er women later emerged
confronting lawmakers vote no. She told reporters with sexual misconduct al-
despite an intensified po- that Kavanaugh is "a good legations from the 1980s.
lice presence. Another 101 man" but maybe "not the Kavanaugh foes cast him
protesters were arrested Fri- right man for the court at as a product of a hard-
day, the U.S. Capitol Police this time." drinking, male-dominat-
said. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., ed, private school culture
It's all expected to con- who has repeatedly bat- in Washington's upscale
clude Saturday afternoon tled Trump and will retire Maryland suburb of Bethes-
with a final roll call almost in January, said he'd vote da. He and his defend-
solidly along party lines. for Kavanaugh's confirma- ers asserted that his high
That would mark an anti- tion "unless something big school and college focus
climactic finale to a clash changes." was on academics, sports