x
Breaking News
More () »

VERIFY: Everything to know about the Supreme Court confirmation process

If you've been loosely following Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation process, you may have some questions.
Credit: Michael Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images
Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh swears in at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, on Capitol Hill September 27, 2018.

The Senate is one step closer toward confirming Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

If you’ve been loosely keeping up with things, you may have a lot of questions. What was the point of the vote Friday morning? Why are they voting again Saturday, and what happens after that?

Let’s break it down - we’ve Verified all these steps with multiple congressional research reports.

  1. To kick things off, the President first announces a nominee. President Trump announced Brett Kavanaugh as his pick on July 9, 2018.
  2. The nomination is then sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee for consideration and they hold hearings on the nominee. The committee held a lengthy hearing last week focused on Dr. Christine Ford's allegations that she was sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh when they were teenagers.
  3. The Judiciary committee votes on the nomination and sends its recommendation to the full Senate. On Friday, September 28, the committee voted along party lines and passed Kavanaugh's nomination through to the full Senate. Over the past week the FBI did an additional background probe related to Dr. Ford's allegations.
  4. The full Senate debates.
  5. The Senate can rule to stop unlimited debate (called a "cloture vote") and force a vote to take place within 30 hours. The Senate passed the cloture vote Friday morning with a 51-49 vote.

And that’s where we are now. The Republicans and Democrats both get 15 of those 30 hours to talk, debate etc…but at the end they have to vote.

A vote only takes a simple majority, or 51 votes, to pass. The Republicans have 51 seats in the Senate right now.

Senator Flake, Senator Collins and Senator Manchin all announced Friday their plans to vote for Kavanaugh, so it appears his confirmation is likely.

Still, it's worth acknowledging the three possible outcomes:

  1. Kavanaugh gets at least 51 "yes" voes and he's confirmed.

  2. If there’s a 50-50 tie, Vice President Mike Pence would vote as the tiebreaker, confirming Kavanaugh.

  3. If 51 Senators vote to reject the nomination, that's it for Kavanaugh. President Trump would have to submit another nominee.

SOURCES:

Supreme Court Appointment Process: President's Selection of a Nominee (CRS Report No. R44235)

Supreme Court Appointment Process: Roles of the President, Judiciary Committee, and Senate (CRS Report No. RL31989)

Supreme Court Appointment Process: Consideration by the Senate Judiciary Committee (CRS Report No. R44236)

Supreme Court Nominations: Senate Floor Procedure and Practice, 1789-2011 (CRS Report No. RL33247)

Questioning Supreme Court Nominees About Their Views on Legal or Constitutional Issues: A Recurring Issue (CRS Report No. R41300)

Supreme Court Appointment Process: Senate Debate and Confirmation Vote (CRS Report No. R44234)

Speed of Presidential and Senate Actions on Supreme Court Nominations, 1900-2010 (CRS Report No. RL33118)

Evolution of the Senate's Role in the Nomination and Confirmation Process: A Brief History (CRS Report No. RL31948)

%INLINE%

Before You Leave, Check This Out