Risch, Crapo vote with GOP majority as Kavanaugh is confirmed to Supreme Court
Sens. Jim Risch and Mike Crapo were among the 50 senators — 49 of them Republicans — who voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court on Saturday. The final vote was 50-48, and it came after Friday’s procedural vote, which was 51-49 in favor of advancing the nomination.
In a pair of press releases, Risch and Crapo explained their unsurprising decisions.
“Judge Kavanaugh is without doubt one of the most qualified people to be nominated to America’s highest court. His judicial philosophy most closely mirrors former Justice Scalia. They both start with the proposition that the court’s job is not to make law but to apply the Constitution and statutes as they were written, to the facts of a case,” Risch’s statement reads.
“Very late in the confirmation process serious allegations were made against Judge Kavanaugh. Such allegations must be taken seriously and must be soberly evaluated. Judge Kavanaugh has undergone seven FBI investigations including one specifically reviewing the last-minute allegations. In all, over 150 people were interviewed by the FBI. ...
“All inquiries must start with the constitutional due process requirement that all are presumed innocent until proven guilty ... The investigations of Judge Kavanaugh did not come close to overcoming the presumption of innocence. The investigations corroborated the assertion of innocence by the accused and in no way corroborated the claim of the accuser. ... I believe Judge Kavanaugh will serve on the Supreme Court with distinction.”
Crapo shared similar sentiments.
“Judge Kavanaugh is a mainstream jurist with a clear record of applying the law as written, consistent with the Constitution. His record as a member of the D.C. Circuit Court shows he has voted with the majority of that court 97 percent of the time, and his reasoning has been adopted by the U.S. Supreme Court 13 times. The FBI conducted a seventh supplemental background investigation following the sincere testimonies given by both Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh,” Crapo’s statement reads.
“All witnesses said to have direct knowledge of the allegations as well as others who might have indirect information were interviewed. Neither the FBI nor the Senate Judiciary Committee, in their separate investigations — both conducted under penalty of felony — found evidence corroborating the allegations made against Judge Kavanaugh. ... Having weighed the over 500,000 documents provided, five days of public testimony and the thorough vetting completed on Judge Kavanaugh, I voted to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh as a justice of the Supreme Court.”
On Friday, close to 100 people gathered outside Boise City Hall to protest Kavanaugh’s then-impending confirmation, according to KTVB. Protesters confronted a man with a cutout of President Donald Trump who was in favor of Kavanaugh’s confirmation; one attempted to rip the cutout’s head off, KTVB reported.
This story was originally published October 6, 2018 at 2:03 PM.