Thursday round-up

For The Washington Post, Seung Min Kim and others report that “Senate Republicans strongly signaled on Wednesday that they will forge ahead with embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh’s confirmation as his accuser called the rush for a public hearing next week unfair.” For The New York Times, Peter Baker and Nicholas Fandos report that the resistance of Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault when they were teenagers, “to appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday seemed to galvanize Republicans and drew wavering Republican senators back into Judge Kavanaugh’s camp.” Natalie Andrews and others report for The Wall Street Journal that “White House Spokesman Raj Shah said the president won’t look at naming any replacement nominee unless there is a clear need” and that the administration is “going ‘full steam ahead’ to support Judge Kavanaugh, who has denied the assault accusations.”

At USA Today, Richard Wolf and Kevin Johnson talk to experts about whether the FBI could “break the deadlock” over the allegation. Tony Mauro reports for The National Law Journal (subscription or registration required) that “[n]o matter how the fast-breaking developments surrounding Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation unfold, it is sinking in among Supreme Court advocates and scholars that a new term will almost certainly begin on Oct. 1 with eight justices, not nine, on the bench.” Commentary comes from Elizabeth Slattery and Carrie Severino in an episode of the Heritage Foundation’s SCOTUS 101 podcast, Caroline Reilly at Rewire.News, Penny Nance in an op-ed for USA Today, the editorial board of The Washington Post, Charles Blow in an op-ed for The New York Times, and Andrew McCarthy in an op-ed for Fox News. 

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