US President Donald Trump's nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, looked headed for a lifetime job on the Supreme Court on Friday after two crucial senators said that sexual misconduct accusations against the judge would not prevent them from voting to confirm him.
If Kavanaugh is approved in a final Senate vote, likely on Saturday, Trump will have achieved a victory in his drive to consolidate conservative dominance of the nation's highest court and move the American judiciary rightward.
US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh arrives for his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, Sept. 27, 2018. /VCG Photo
Two key senators, Republican Susan Collins and Democrat Joe Manchin, both seen as swing votes, said they would support Kavanaugh, after weeks of debate about sexual violence and the nominee's character and temperament that gripped the nation.
A sharply partisan battle over the nomination became an intense personal and political drama when university professor Christine Blasey Ford accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were high school students in Maryland in 1982.
Collins, in remarks on the Senate floor explaining her decision to back Kavanaugh, said Ford's accusations against him "fail to meet the more-likely-than-not standard."
As protesters in a Capitol Hill hallway shouted, "Shame! Shame! Shame!" Manchin told reporters an FBI investigation, which did not find corroborating evidence of Ford's accusations, was thorough.
Protesters opposed to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh rally at the Supreme Court after a march, Oct. 4, 2018. /VCG Photo
"I believe Dr. Ford. Something happened to Dr. Ford. I don't believe the facts show that it was Brett Kavanaugh, but I believe something happened," Manchin said.
Two other women also made accusations of sexual misconduct by Kavanaugh in the 1980s. He denied those accusations, as well as Ford's, in angry testimony to a Senate committee.
If confirmed, Kavanaugh would tip the court's balance to a 5-4 conservative majority in possible legal battles ahead over contentious issues such as abortion rights, immigration, and Trump's attempt to ban transgender people from the military.
US Senator Joe Manchin speaks with reporters in the Senate Hart building as a rally against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh takes place on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, Oct. 4, 2018. /VCG Photo
Republicans hold a 51-49 majority in the US Senate, and with the two key senators choosing to vote in favor of Kavanaugh, the confirmation looked locked-in late on Friday.
In theory, Kavanaugh could be confirmed, sworn in and sitting on the mahogany bench in the traditional black justice's robe by Tuesday, when the court is next in session.
White House officials have said Kavanaugh would be sworn in swiftly.
The Kavanaugh fight has riveted Americans just weeks before Nov. 6 elections in which Democrats are trying to take control of Congress from the Republicans.
(Top image: Senator Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, speaks to the media at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, Oct. 5, 2018. /VCG Photo)