Having secured the vote of a Republican senator who was still unsure whether he will vote for Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh the day before, the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote to recommend Kavanaugh on Sept. 28 for a floor vote by the Senate.
Sen. Jeff Flake released a statement shortly before the committee hearing on the morning of Sept. 28 indicating that he will vote to confirm Kavanaugh. Flake had said he was still unsure how he would vote on the night of Sept. 27 following the hearing with testimony by Kavanaugh and his accuser.
“After hearing more than 30 hours of testimony from Judge Kavanaugh earlier this month, I was prepared to support his nomination based on his view of the law and his record as a judge,” Flake said.
“Our system of justice affords a presumption of innocence to the accused, absent corroborating evidence.”
Expecting a wave of motions and delay efforts by the Democrats, Sen. Chuck Grassley, the committee chair, motioned to vote to recommend Kavanaugh no later than 1:30 p.m. Flake voted “aye” on the deadline.
As the hearing opened, Democrats motioned to subpoena Mark Judge. The motion was defeated 11-10. The committee received a letter from Judge on the night of Sept. 27 reaffirming, under the penalty of perjury, his prior written denial of the allegations against Kavanaugh, a high school friend.
Senators on both sides of the aisle proceeded with speeches. Republicans supported Kavanaugh and criticized Democrats of attempting to delay the confirmation process. Democrats called to delay the vote pending an FBI investigation. The bureau has declared the matter closed, according to Grassley.
Democrats brought up a letter from the American Bar Association’s president also calling for an FBI probe of allegations against Kavanaugh.
“The ABA is an outside organization like any other that can send us letters and advice but we’re not going to let them dictate our committee’s business. Also, this letter is from the president of the ABA, one individual, he doesn’t represent the hundreds of thousands of lawyers in the United States,” Grassley said.
The committee vote will have followed a riveting hearing on Sept. 27 where Christine Blasey Ford, the accuser, and Kavanaugh provided vastly different accounts of what happened in the summer of 1982.
Ford testified first and stood by her accusation. Questioning by a former prosecutor revealed that Ford had forgotten a number of key events from the past three months. Ford also admitted to multiple inconsistencies between the various accounts she provided to the media, the Senate, and her polygraph examiner.
Kavanaugh offered a passionate defense of his character, swore to his innocence, and excoriated the Democrats for destroying his reputation and subverting the constitutional “advice and consent” process.
