News Roundup

In the culmination of a nomination process that divided the nation, Brett Kavanaugh was sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice on Saturday night. As USA Today reports, the final Senate vote was 50-48, with Joe Manchin the lone Democrat voting in favor of Kavanaugh's appointment and Lisa Murkowski the lone Republican voting against. Kavanaugh was sworn in shortly after the vote by Chief Justice John Roberts and retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy in a private ceremony. Kavanaugh once served as a law clerk for Justice Kennedy, as did Justice Neil Gorsuch. In another overlap, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh each attended high school at Georgetown Preparatory School. FBI Investigation. As the nation well knows, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's allegation that Justice Kavanaugh drunkenly attempted to rape her at a high school party was the focus of a Senate Judiciary Comittee hearing and, ultimately, an FBI investigation initiated at the behest of Senator Jeff Flake. The results of that investigation have largely remained secret, with only one copy of the full report being prepared and that copy made available only to senators. Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said that the investigation did not uncover evidence that corroborated Dr. Ford's allegation that Kavanaugh, with the assistance of a friend, isolated and attacked her in a bedroom of mutual friend's home. Grassley released an executive summary of the report to the public. High Court Partisanship. It has been widely suggested that the battle over Kavanaugh's nomination marks an unprecedented shift towards partisanship on the U.S. Supreme [...]