Jonathan Bernstein, Columnist

Politics, Not Evidence, Will Determine Kavanaugh Vote

Four undecided senators control the outcome.

September 28, 2018 at 7:59 PM UTC

Updated on

September 28, 2018 at 8:27 PM UTC

Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics. A former professor of political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio, he wrote A Plain Blog About Politics.

The fly in the ointment.
Photographer: Win McNamee/Getty Images

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Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, the Republican swing vote on the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced Friday morning that he would support President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. But when the committee met, he made clear -- after consultations with Democrats on the panel -- that he wanted a one-week delay before the final floor vote to confirm Kavanaugh to allow the FBI to conduct a limited background check on the allegations of sexual assault against the nominee.

So what happens next?