By James Simons-
The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on whether to favorably recommend Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court as previously scheduled Friday morning. There is speculation as to whether the final vote will be influenced by President Trump’s support for his nominee, or whether not enough key Republicans can be persuaded to vote for Kavanaugh, and save his future career.
It will depend on how deep their convictions are in relation to their assessment of Ford and Kavanaugh’s testimony, or whether they consider actions by a teenager as irrelevant to the post he has as a grown man who has been nominated by the president.
A handful of Republican senators are to decide whether to support the nominee following the dark cloud of unflattering allegations against him by Dr Christine Ford and now known to the whole world. The case is just beginning, but Senators have little time to decide.
GOP senators told reporters that the committee vote would happen among members behind closed doors as previously scheduled on Friday morning, and that the first procedural vote will take place on the Senate floor Saturday. GOP leaders had pushed for a full Senate vote on Tuesday, October 2.
Sen. John Cornyn, who as majority whip is the second-ranking GOP member in the chamber, said he was optimistic that Kavanaugh can advance out of the committee.
“While both individuals provided compelling testimony, nothing that has been presented corroborates the allegation,” Corker said in his announcement. “There is no question that Judge Kavanaugh is qualified to serve on the Supreme Court, and in a different political environment, he would be confirmed overwhelmingly.”
Late on Thursday, the American Bar Association urged the committee to postpone the vote until the FBI could conduct an investigation.
“Deciding to proceed without conducting additional investigation would not only have a lasting impact on the Senate’s reputation, but it will also negatively affect the great trust necessary for the American people to have in the Supreme Court,” ABA President Robert M. Carlson wrote in a letter to the committee.
There is no unanimity among senators that an FBI investigation is the best way forward, and there isn’t an appetite for that among U.S senators. As they vote, the question on their mind is whether they believe what they have heard so far from Dr.Ford, or whether they think her claims are malicious or politically motivated. Senators have been very attentive to developments in the Kavanaugh case, and how they vote on Friday will tell us how they have assessed the hearing so far.