[B]y the narrowest of margins on Friday morning, the Senate voted 51-49 to limit debate on Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who has been accused by three women of sexual misconduct, setting up a possible confirmation vote on the Senate floor for as early as Saturday afternoon.
Vermont senators Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., both voted against the motion to end debate, joining an almost united front of Democratic opposition to Kavanaugh in the Senate.
The Republicans needed 51 votes to end debate and a single Democrat, Joe Manchin, of West Virginia, joined them in favor of advancing Kavanaugh.
Manchin, who is facing releection this year in a state President Donald Trump won by a large margin in the 2016 election, was noncommittal on Thursday when he was asked by reporters about how he was going to vote, but it is still unclear if he will vote to confirm Kavanaugh or not.
Key Republican swing votes included senators Jeff Flake, of Arizona, who had been the sole Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee to press for a FBI investigation into the allegations against Kavanaugh; Susan Collins, of Maine; and Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska.
Murkowski was the only Republican to break with her party and voted with Democrats on the procedural question to advance Kavanaugh.
Collins said she is still undecided on her final decision but told members of the press that she would announce her final decision on Friday afternoon, according to NBC News. The Republican from Maine isn’t facing reelection until 2020, but has faced mounting pressure to vote against Kavanaugh since the accusations of sexual misconduct against him were made public three weeks ago.
In response to the floor vote, Leahy said in a statement that Kavanaugh’s “relentless dishonesty under oath is disqualifying, as is his temperament and partisan zeal.”
Sanders joined Leahy, tweeting that Kavanaugh “is not worthy of joining the Supreme Court” and that he has “lied to Congress.”
Judge Kavanaugh is not worthy of joining the Supreme Court.
– He will become a part of the hard-right majority on the Supreme Court
– There are very credible allegations of sexual assault against him
– He lied to Congress— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) October 5, 2018
