After days of speculation, controversy, and protest, Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court has advanced and a final vote on confirmation could take place as early as Saturday.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) was the only Republican to vote "no" in a procedural vote Friday while two other swing GOP Senators, Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Susan Collins (R-ME), and Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia all voted "yes."
The 51-49 vote will allow the Senate to debate over the next 30 hours whether Kavanaugh should ultimately be confirmed. Their choices Friday are not necessarily indicative of how they'll vote in the final tally ー Sen. Collins is expected to announce where she'll fall in that confirmation vote when she speaks on the Senate floor at 3 pm ET.
The procedural vote was set up after the FBI closed an investigation into sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh on Wednesday and made the report available to Senators Thursday morning. The probe reportedly found no corroboration of the accusations made by Prof. Christine Blasey Ford, though Democrats and Ford's lawyers criticized authorities for not interviewing her, the judge, or potential witnesses.
Following Friday's vote, President Trump [tweeted](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1048226225196552193) that he was "very proud" of the Senate.
Nashville city councilors will likely appoint Justin Jones to his former seat on Monday while Memphis-area county commissioners will soon announce when they'll meet to fill the vacancy left by the expulsion of Justin Pearson, which Pearson himself is eligible to fill.
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said "Everything is on the table" when asked if he'd recommend that the FDA ignore Friday's ruling to reverse the agency's nearly 23-year-old approval of the medication abortion drug mifepristone.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas defended himself against reports that a GOP donor treated him to super luxury vacations.
California Rep. Mark Takano re-introduced a bill for a four-day work week to bring to Congress. "The idea here is to ignite and jumpstart a serious conversation about how long the work week should be," Rep. Takano said. "The next steps are to continue to build interest ... that interest needs to be turned into public sentiment."
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Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas says he wasn’t required to disclose the many trips he and his wife took that were paid for by a Republican megadonor.
The two expelled members are Black and the member not expelled is white.
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Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has for more than two decades accepted luxury trips nearly every year from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow without reporting them on financial disclosure forms, ProPublica reports.
