Swearing-in Ceremony for Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Oval. Rose Garden.
After weeks of grueling political trench warfare, complete with baseless accusations of the most deplorable behavior made against the nominee, Brett Kavanaugh has been confirmed by the Senate as the next Supreme Court justice for the United States.
Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) was the sole Democrat to join 49 Republicans in voting to confirm Justice Kavanaugh. Meanwhile, Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) did not vote because he was attending his daughter’s wedding. He was ready to fly to Washington to vote if necessary, but his yes vote was unneeded.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who had said she would vote no on Kavanaugh’s nomination instead voted Present. Murkowski said she was doing so as part of an old tradition in the Senate called “paired voting,” where, if a Senator was unable to return to the Senate for the vote (in this case Daines), a senator with the opposite view would, as a courtesy, sit out the vote. More likely, Murkowski, from heavily conservative Alaska, saw this as a face saving tactic to avoid casting an explicit no-vote on Kavanaugh, who is heavily backed by Murkowski’s conservative base voters. A tricky political maneuver from the Senator from Alaska.
Ultimately it was Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) who saved Kavanaugh with her performance on Friday. Her yes vote was the last major hurdle to success for Kavanaugh’s nomination.
After his confirmation, Kavanaugh was sworn in by Justices Roberts and Kennedy. Congratulations to Brett Kavanaugh, the newest United States Supreme Court Justice.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh was sworn in as the 114th Supreme Court justice late Saturday. https://t.co/ULkZtkpY9p pic.twitter.com/vouBOtCRy7
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 6, 2018
