Getty Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is sworn in to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill on September 27, 2018 in Washington, DC. Kavanaugh was called back to testify about claims by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused him of sexually assaulting her during a party in 1982 when they were high school students in suburban Maryland.
Senators are expected to hold a vote on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court at 10:30 this morning. Ahead of the vote, a debate took place on the Senate floor. You can watch it all here.
A Reuters livestream is also available here:
The Vote to Confirm Kavanaugh Could Come as Early as Saturday
On Friday, Senators were holding a cloture vote. That is a Senate procedure which limits the amount of time that senators can spend debating on an issue. If the cloture vote passes, senators will have only 30 hours in which to debate the nomination before it has to come up for a vote.
If the cloture vote passes, the vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination could come as early as Saturday afternoon.
On Thursday, Capitol Hill filled up with protesters who voiced their opposition to Kavanaugh’s nomination. Demonstrators stormed the Senate Hart building, and hundreds entered the Capitol. Many of the protesters were arrested for refusing to leave restricted areas of the Capitol building.
On Friday morning, Democrats — including Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Schumer — criticized Kavanaugh for his behavior during past Senate hearings and for the questions that remain about his past. Schumer urged senators to reject Kavanaugh’s nomination and to ask President Trump to send them another name, “for the sake of the Senate, and for the sake of America. He said another nominee would likely be conservative as well, but would not have “the cloud that hangs over this nominee.”
Senate majority leader Mitch McConell told his colleagues this was one of the most “consequential votes” in recent memory. He said, “we will not only be deciding wehtehr to elevate a stunningly well qualified judge to our highest court…the US Senate will also be making a statement” about, he said, the belief that all people are innocent until proven guilty.