Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to be the next associate justice to the Supreme Court looked like a done deal when the Senate Judiciary Committee gaveled in this morning. While Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony Thursday about her alleged sexual assault at the hands of a drunken Kavanaugh when the two were in high school was riveting and compelling, Kavanaugh put up a vigorous defense. President Trump loved the performance of his nominee, and it appeared that Kavanaugh did enough to keep the Republicans in his corner.
Then Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. turned the tables, requesting at the last minute that the full Senate floor vote be delayed until the FBI conducted a one-week investigation into the multiple allegations made against the D.C. Circuit Court judge. In the senator’s words: “I think it would be proper to delay the floor vote up to but not more than one week in order to let the FBI do an investigation limited in time and scope [on] the current allegations that are there.”
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Why does this matter? Because the GOP has very little margin for error on this nomination. With a two-seat majority, Senate Republicans can’t afford more than two defections (assuming the Democratic caucus held together). Jeff Flake was one of three GOP senators (in addition to Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins) who would determine whether Judge Kavanaugh would become Justice Kavanaugh. The junior senator from Arizona has a ton of leverage.
His request for a narrow FBI background investigation isn’t a request as much as it is a demand. With undecided Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., backing Flake up, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has no choice but to accede to it. If McConnell opposes a one-week delay, he wouldn’t have the votes — and Flake, Murkowski, and Manchin would make sure of it.
To put it bluntly, Senate Republicans are being held hostage by one of their own.
Flake, however, did the right thing. You can tell he was torn about what to do on Kavanaugh’s confirmation. While he’s a solid conservative who wants another conservative jurist on the Supreme Court like the rest of his Republican colleagues, he also wants the process to be as fair and judicious as it can be — to the nominee, to Ford, to the Senate as an institution, and to the country. It’s inconceivable that the Judiciary Committee would rush Kavanaugh to the bench when three separate allegations of sexual assault and misconduct are hanging over his head. Flake, to his credit, recognized the problem and used his unique power as a swing vote to push for an investigation that should have occurred before the committee voted.
If Judge Brett Kavanaugh is innocent of these charges, he should welcome the FBI probe as a way to clear his name. The country should welcome the extra time as well — without it, the process would forever be defined by the asterisk alongside it.
Daniel DePetris (@DanDePetris) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. His opinions are his own.
