UPDATE: Kavanaugh Has the Votes for Confirmation After Senators' Announcements

Updated 10/5/18 at 4:00pm: With previously undecided senators having announced their decisions, Judge Brett Kavanaugh will likely be confirmed as a justice of the Supreme Court in a 51-49 vote on Saturday (or 50-49 if Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) doesn't fly back to vote after his daughter's wedding).

• In a floor speech, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) announced that she'll vote to confirm Kavanaugh.
• She joins Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), who announced his intention to vote to confirm Kavanaugh earlier in the afternoon barring any significant changes.
• Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) opposed this morning's cloture vote and said she'll fully explain why she opposes Kavanaugh's confirmation in a floor speech.
• Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) released a statement that he will support Kavanaugh's confirmation.

Countable's original article appears below.

The Senate voted 51-49 on Friday morning to limit debate on the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, setting up a confirmation vote Saturday that will begin at roughly 5pm ET assuming all 30 hours of remaining debate are used.

Of the four senators who entered today without having announced how they’ll vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation, three voted to limit further debate ― Sens. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Joe Manchin (D-WV) ― while Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) was opposed. Collins is expected to announce whether she’ll support Kavanaugh’s confirmation in a floor speech at 3pm ET.

It’s important to note that senators can vote to “invoke” a cloture motion, which limits further debate to 30 hours, and still oppose the underlying bill or nomination. A recent example of this was the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) voting to invoke cloture on the GOP’s Obamacare repeal bill but opposing it in its final form.

Should the Senate confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court?

— Eric Revell

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