Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn voted to advance President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee on Friday.
In a Friday afternoon vote, Cruz and Cornyn joined a narrow majority to move the Supreme Court nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh to a vote on Saturday. The procedural vote went down primarily on a party line, with the 51-49 vote being boosted by Democrat Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) crossing party lines to support advancing the nomination. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) was the only Republican to vote against moving the nomination forward.
The vote was expected to be a contentious one, due to recent misconduct allegations made against Kavanaugh, a current federal judge. After calls by Senate Democrats and Republican Senator Jeff Flake (R-Arizona), an FBI investigation was conducted into the details of the allegations, with information being provided to Senators earlier in the week.
Following the vote, Senator Ted Cruz released a statement praising Kavanaugh, and said he hopes to see the judge confirmed to the Supreme Court.
“I am pleased to see the Senate proceed with this nomination,” Cruz said. “The people of Texas want Justices on the Court who will be faithful to the Constitution and who will defend the Bill of Rights. Judge Kavanaugh has served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for over a decade. He is by any measure one of the most respected federal judges in the country, and I look forward to seeing him confirmed to the Supreme Court.”
However, the vote is not yet a done deal. Senators are expected to make a final vote on the confirmation this weekend, with speculation remaining about the votes of a handful of Senators, including Murkowski, Manchin, Flake, and Susan Collins (R-Maine).
If Kavanaugh is confirmed over the weekend, he will replace Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court.
