Judge Brett Kavanaugh Is Confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice

With a suspected 50-48 vote, Brett Kavanaugh has officially been confirmed as the next Supreme Court Justice and will be replacing the now retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy on the bench.

The Senate vote took place Saturday afternoon, though many senators had already come forward to announce how they planned to vote. On Friday, Maine Sen. Susan Collins announced she would be voting “yes” for Kavanaugh, giving Republicans the majority they needed to secure the vote. Collins, along with GOP Senators Lisa Murkowski and Jeff Flake and Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Heidi Heitkamp, were considered swing votes leading up to this week. Before Saturday, Murkowski and Heitkamp announced they would vote “no”, while Flake and Manchin announced they would vote “yes”.

Kavanaugh’s confirmation process has been fraught with controversy, mostly surrounding sexual assault allegations made against him. On Sept. 27, a hearing was held with Kavanaugh and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Kavanaugh of assaulting her at a gathering while the two were in high school. During the hearing, Kavanugh vehemently denied the allegations and delivered a fiery testimony; he later wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal addressing his “emotional” behavior.

The day after the hearing, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted on advancing Kavanaugh’s nomination, and while the vote went through, Flake requested the FBI conduct a limited investigation into the allegations. The FBI then submitted their report on Oct. 3, and the Judiciary Committee voted the nomination out of committee.

Since Kavanaugh was first announced as President Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court nominee, people have descended upon Washington D.C. in order to protest his nomination. Many were concerned about his positions regarding health care, gun reform, and the future of Roe v. Wade. In the past, Kavanaugh has said he doesn’t believe in banning assault weapons and ruled against allowing an undocumented teenager to receive an abortion.

Protestors and sexual assault survivors were also confronting their senators to share their stories and implore them to vote against Kavanaugh. In one instance, survivors approached Flake shortly before the first committee vote and, in a now viral moment, told him, “You’re telling me that my assault doesn’t matter, that what happened to me doesn’t matter, and that you’re going to let people who do these things into power. That’s what you’re telling me when you vote for him.”

The Kavanaugh hearings mirror the confirmation of Judge Clarence Thomas, who was accused of sexual harassment by Anita Hill nearly three decades ago. The similarities between Hill and Ford are striking, with both facing nearly all male senators—some of them the same from Hill’s testimony in 1991.

Kavanaugh’s confirmation proves how much is at stake during the upcoming midterm elections. Don’t let what Dr. Ford did be in vain. In honor of National Voter Registration Day last month, ELLE partnered with When We All Vote to urge women to register and vote. Go here to register, and let your voice be heard.