The roadblocks to confirming Brett Kavanaugh as a judge on the United States Supreme Court are mounting.
Christine Blasey Ford is set to testify on her sexual misconduct allegations against the Supreme Court nominee on Thursday, and a second person has accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct as well.
It is now conceivable that Kavanaugh may not be confirmed, which could happen in multiple ways. Kavanaugh may drop out himself, while his nomination could also be pulled by the White House or not accepted by the nomination committee.
The judiciary committee that needs to approve Kavanaugh’s confirmation has a narrow 11-10 Republican majority, but Sen. Jeff Flake, a Republican on the committee, has expressed concerns over the sexual assault allegations.
If Kavanaugh’s nomination does make it to a vote from the entire U.S. Senate, it is possible that some GOP senators could join Democrats in voting against the nominee. It would only take a single Republican going against Kavanaugh for the nomination not to be confirmed.
WATCH: Second woman accusing Kavanaugh of sex assault comes forward
If Kavanaugh is rejected, what happens next?
Bad timing
Any new nominee to the Supreme Court will likely not be confirmed in time for the Nov. 6 U.S. midterm elections.
Before news broke of the sexual misconduct allegations, Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination process was expected to take about three months, from Justice Anthony Kennedy’s resignation in late June to a full Senate vote on the current nominee expected in late September.
However, with elections approaching, Kavanaugh’s rejection would give Republicans little time to select a new nominee for confirmation before the end of December, when the current Senate session ends.
If Republicans do not have a judge confirmed before the midterm elections, there also is the chance that Democrats could gain a majority in the Senate. If they do, it would likely spoil the chances of a hardline conservative judge — or any Trump-chosen nominee — to be confirmed in a full Senate vote and could potentially force Trump to choose a more moderate candidate. Currently, Republicans hold the majority in the Senate 51-49.
However, it is possible that Republicans could push a nominee through in the month between midterms and the end of December before the winners of the midterm elections take office.
WATCH: Mitch McConnell accuses Democrats of ‘trying to destroy’ Brett Kavanaugh
The other options
If Kavanaugh is rejected, there are three other judges — Amy Coney Barrett, Raymond Kethledge and Thomas Hardiman — who were widely reported to be shortlisted in the selection process.
In the event that Kavanaugh’s nomination does not go through, Trump might in turn nominate one of these judges, who were chosen from a list of 25 judges selected by the conservative Federalist Society.
Hardiman was reportedly Trump’s runner-up for the spot taken by Justice Neil Gorsuch. NPR claims that Barrett and Kavanaugh were Trump’s two final picks, but Vox reported that Trump wants his Supreme Court nominee to have a degree from Harvard or Yale, and Barrett attended Notre Dame Law School. Vox also says that Barrett performed poorly in her one-on-one interview with Trump.
However, Barrett is a politically provocative pick given her young age of 46 and relative inexperience, which might make her appealing to Trump and difficult for the Senate to grill over her past record.
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