Sens.
Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va on Friday said they
intend to vote in favor of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's
confirmation -- two crucial votes that appear to secure Kavanaugh's
confirmation to the nation's highest court.
Moments after Collins
spoke on the Senate floor announcing her intention to vote for the
nominee, Manchin said in a statement he would also vote to confirm
Kavanaugh. Manchin said while he had "reservations" due to sexual
assault allegations against Kavanaugh and his temperament, he said "I
believe he will rule in a manner that is consistent with our
Constitution."
Collins said the confirmation had resembled a
"caricature of a gutter-level political campaign" and criticized
Democrats for announcing their opposition to Kavanaugh before his name
was even announced. She also criticized outside groups for distorting
Kavanaugh's record and "over-the-top rhetoric."
As she began her speech, she was interrupted by protesters urging her to
vote "no." The Senate was flooded by protesters in the days leading up
to the vote, with activists hounding Republicans and urging them to vote
against Kavanaugh's confirmation, citing decades-old sexual assault
allegations against Kavanaugh. Protesters also yelled "shame" at Manchin
after his statement.
Collins dismissed claims that
Kavanaugh would be a partisan judge, noted he had ruled in favor of
parts of ObamaCare and ruled against a Bush-era terror conviction. She
also said she was assured that Kavanaugh would not overturn Roe v Wade
-- the 1973 decision that found a constitutional right to abortion. She
also rejected concerns by Democrats about his temperament and that he
was out of the judicial mainstream.
Collins, who told Fox News
that she made her decision on Thursday evening, officially made her
announcement on the floor of the Senate Friday, hours after the chamber
voted 51-49 to advance Kavanaugh's nomination to a final vote on
Saturday evening. Collins was one of four key undecided senators who
were closely watched for how they would vote. Collins -- along with Sen.
Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Manchin voted to invoke cloture on the
nomination earlier Friday. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, voted "no."
Flake had suggested he would vote "yes" for Kavanaugh "unless something big changes."
Meanwhile,
a source familiar with the confirmation process told Fox News that
Manchin called to notify the White House that he was a "yes" for
Kavanaugh. But White House officials learned of Collins' decision to
support Kavanaugh in real time.
With a 51-49 majority in the
Senate, Republicans expect passage by a razor-thin margin. And so every
vote has been a subject of intense speculation and scrutiny.
At
this point, White House officials are assuming that Sen. Lisa Murkowski,
R-Alaska, will remain a "no" during Saturday's confirmation vote.
She confirmed that she would not support the nomination in remarks on
Capitol Hill Friday evening, saying that, invoking her conscience, "I
could not conclude that he is the right person for the court at this
time."
She won't vote a straight "no," though. She said that due
to the necessary absence of Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., they will have a
“Pair Between Senators.” This collegial procedure will take place
during the Saturday vote and will ensure the vote margin is the same,
even with Daines walking his daughter down the aisle at her
wedding. Murkowski will ask to be recorded as ‘present’ (though on
record as a ‘no’ vote) while Daines is on record as supporting the
nomination, but necessarily absent.
Murkowski said it's her hope "that this reminds us we can take very small steps to be gracious with one another."
Kavanaugh’s
nomination was embroiled in a deeply divisive controversy that gripped
the nation after multiple women made sexual assault allegations
originating from his time in high school and college. The most prominent
allegation was from California professor Christine Blasey Ford, who
said that Kavanaugh assaulted her at a high school party. That
allegation resulted in a high-stakes Senate Judiciary hearing last week
where both Ford and Kavanaugh testified.
Democrats said the
allegations were credible and deserved a full investigation, while
Republicans accused Democrats of using uncorroborated allegations to
scuttle or delay the nomination -- leading to a stream of angry
flashpoints between lawmakers. The accusations eventually led to
President Trump ordering an FBI investigation. Republicans who had seen
the FBI’s report said the FBI had produced no credible corroboration of
the allegations.
On those accusations, Collins said the Senate
would be "ill-served in the long-term if we abandon the presumption of
innocence and fairness, as tempting as it may be." She pointed to what
she saw as inconsistencies and lack of corroboration in Ford's story and
said they fail to meet the "more likely than not" standard. She also
said that those trying to defeat Kavanaugh's nomination "cared little if
at all" about Ford's well being.
Collins also made reference to allegations by Julie Swetnick that Kavanaugh drugged girls and was present during gang rapes.
"This
outlandish allegation was put forth without any credible supporting
evidence and simply parroted public statements of others," she
said. "That such an allegation can find its way into the Supreme Court
process is a stark reminder of why the presumption of innocence is so
ingrained in our American conscience."
Protesters clashed with
Republican lawmakers in an effort to sway their votes, and initially
appeared to have some success. Flake demanded the limited FBI
investigation last week after being cornered in an elevator by screaming
protesters moments before a Senate Judiciary Committee vote to
recommend Kavanaugh’s nomination. Republicans and conservatives had
pushed back, including putting out ads that suggested the fight over
accusations against Kavanaugh had implications for men across America.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said early Friday that the vote was "a pivotal day for us here in the Senate."
"The
ideals of justice that have served our nation for so long are on
display," he said, calling the last two weeks a "disgraceful spectacle."
But
Democrats had pointed to not only the sexual assault allegations, which
they described but also questions about Kavanaugh’s temperament during
the hearing last week and whether he had lied about his drinking during
high school and college, and what certain references in his high school
yearbook meant. They also sought to paint him as a justice that would
swing the court deeply to the right.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck
Schumer, D-NY, accused Kavanaugh of being evasive in his answers during
his confirmation hearings on key topics. He said his views are “deeply
at odds with the progress America has made in the last century of
jurisprudence and at odds with what most Americans believe.”
Fox News' Alex Pappas, Chad Pergram, Jason Donner, John Roberts and Mike Emanuel contributed to this report.