Both of Georgia’s Republican U.S. senators plan to back Brett Kavanaugh after senior Sen. Johnny Isakson confirmed Thursday that he plans to vote to confirm the Supreme Court pick.
Isakson said Kavanaugh would “bring a strong commitment to the Constitution and the rule of law to the Supreme Court” in a statement that came hours after the FBI transmitted a summary of its latest background investigation to the U.S. Senate.
“Any judge on the nation’s highest court should be one who understands and applies the law based on the U.S. Constitution, and I have confidence that Judge Kavanaugh will fulfill these duties accordingly,” the three-term Republican said. “I’ve based my decision on the totality of the information provided during the confirmation process.”
Senators are expected to take a procedural vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination on Friday morning, teeing up a likely confirmation vote later this weekend. A trio of undecided Republican centrists are expected to determine whether the circuit court judge’s nomination will survive.
Isakson's Georgia colleague, Republican David Perdue, announced last week that he would support Kavanaugh as the FBI began investigating sexual assault allegations levied against the nominee.
Isakson had initially committed to voting for Kavanaugh before Christine Blasey Ford's allegations went public but later pulled back, saying he wanted to take in the information provided in the FBI's probe before making a final decision.
On Thursday he praised Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley for his handling of the confirmation process but declined to take a swipe at Democrats as Perdue did in a blistering floor speech Wednesday. Democrats have accused their GOP counterparts of railroading Kavanaugh's nomination without taking in the testimony of potential corroborating witnesses.
Perdue said Democrats had "gone too far" in their opposition to Kavanaugh.
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