The Senate Committee on the Judiciary voted the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court out of committee early Friday afternoon.
The vote was 11-10 — all the Republicans on the committee voted yes, while the all the Democrats on the committee voted no.
Kavanaugh is voted out of committee 11-10.
— Domenico Montanaro (@DomenicoNPR) September 28, 2018
Nothing binds an investigation from actually happening, but seems to suggest Flake would vote NO without an FBI investigation
More from NPR: "Kavanaugh Nomination Moves Forward As Flake Calls For FBI Investigation"
During the proceedings Sen. Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, did propose a delay of up to a week to allow the FBI to investigate allegations against Kavanaugh before the full Senate votes on the nomination.
Later Friday afternoon, decisions were made regarding Flake's proposal:
Just in: After Senate Republican leaders agreed to delay Judge Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation vote, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley has formally requested that the White House conduct a “supplemental FBI background check."
— NPR (@NPR) September 28, 2018
The Senate will still proceed with a procedural vote to move ahead with Kavanaugh’s nomination on Saturday, but they will put off the final floor vote until the FBI finishes its review. https://t.co/AxINKkFUaX
— NPR Politics (@nprpolitics) September 28, 2018
The committee's vote comes the day after both Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, who alleges Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school, testified before the committee.
Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the senior Democrat on the committee, has said he believes Ford's allegations are true and that there should be an FBI investigation prior to a vote.
Leahy released a statement on Friday morning, in which he reiterated his decision to vote against Kavanaugh's nomination.
"Voting to advance and ultimately confirm Judge Kavanaugh while he is under this dark cloud of suspicion will forever change both the Senate and our nation’s highest court," Leahy said in his statement, which ended with the following remarks:
"I will be voting no on Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination. He does not have the veracity nor temperament for a lifetime appointment to the highest court in our nation. And no such nominee should be confirmed in the face of such serious, credible, and unresolved allegations of sexual assault."
Read Leahy's full statement here.
You can also watch a video of the Senate Judiciary Committee's vote on Sept. 28 below:
Update 4:32 p.m. Additional tweet embeds were added as more information came to light about the vote schedule.
Update 2:22 p.m. This post was updated following the committee vote. A previous version of the post had the incorrect first name of Sen. Flake. It's been corrected.
