Kavanaugh Confirmed To Supreme Court By Smallest Margin Since 1881
Brett Kavanaugh Confirmed To Supreme Court By Smallest Margin Since 1881, Jason Silverstein, CBS, Oct. 6, '18.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh will be appointed to the Supreme Court with the smallest — and most partisan — Senate vote margin in nearly 140 years. After weeks of bitter debate about Kavanaugh's record and the unconfirmed sexual assault allegations against him, the Senate voted 50-48 Saturday to confirm him.
One Democrat and 49 Republicans voted for him, while all other Democrats voted no. (Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski voted no but withdrew her vote as a courtesy to Sen. Steve Daines, a Republican who supported Kavanaugh but missed the vote for his daughter's wedding.)
No other justice on the court now, nor any successful nominee in modern history, received such a narrow and starkly divided vote. The last judge to end up on the Supreme Court by such a slim margin was Stanley Matthews, who was confirmed in 1881 by a single vote. Matthews had been nominated once before that, by President Rutherford Hayes.
But controversy shrouded the nomination because Matthews had been a classmate of Hayes' at Kenyon College, sparking accusations of cronyism. The Senate didn't act on the first nomination. Matthews only joined the nation's highest bench after Hayes' successor, President James Garfield, re-nominated him. He was confirmed with a 24-23 vote.
Until now, the most divided Supreme Court confirmation since Matthews was for Clarence Thomas, nominated in 1991 by President George H.W. Bush. Thomas faced an FBI investigation into alleged sexual misconduct and contentious hearings before a Democrat-controlled Senate.
Thomas was confirmed by a 52-48 vote. Eleven Democrats and 46 Republicans supported him, while 46 Democrats and two Republicans voted against him....
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/brett-kavanaugh-confirmed-to-supreme-court-by-smallest-margin-since-1881/ar-BBO2mAT?li=BBnb4R7
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instrument of the GOP and Putin. Oh goodie! 