Thread by @chrisgeidner

This is where it appears things stand. With Murkowski a no and Flake an all-but-certain yes, the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court will come down to the Republican senator from Maine and the Democratic senator from West Virginia.

https://twitter.com/justinsink/status/1048242529433477120

If confirmed, the best Kavanaugh could do, given what we know, would be a 51-49 vote — the closest Supreme Court confirmation vote of any sitting justice. Justice Thomas was confirmed on a 52-48 vote.

More on this, from me —> Brett Kavanaugh's Final Supreme Court Vote Will Be One Of The Closest In US History, No Matter How It Turns Out buzzfeednews.com/article/chrisg…

Now up: Sen. Susan Collins.

Collins is talking about how Democrats and special interest groups opposed Kavanaugh as or before his name was even announced.

“I have always opposed litmus tests,” Collins says. She notes her votes for Roberts, Alito, Sotomayor, Kagan, and Gorsuch.

Needless to say, Collins sounds like a yes — pushing back on the legal arguments against Kavanaugh that have been advanced during the original confirmation hearings for Kavanaugh. Thus far, she’s not raised the sexual assault allegations or Kavanaugh’s testimony last week.

(Collins’ open about Democrats obviously ignored the fact that Republicans and the right’s special interest groups’ immediate support was similarly ready for multiple possible nominees. Especially under Trump, where we have a list, this was a bit over-the-top.)

Did Susan Collins not exist for the past three weeks?

Has Lisa Blatt, just cited by Collins, commented since the Ford allegations were made public?

Here we go: Collins is talking about Ford.

The presumption of innocence, due process, and fairness bear on Collins’ thinking, she says, “and I cannot abandon them.”

Collins hasn’t said it yet, but she is clearly a yes vote for Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.

Unless Flake (or someone unexpected) changes his or her planned vote, Kavanaugh will be confirmed as a justice on Saturday.

“I do not believe that these charges can fairly prevent Judge Kavanaugh from serving on the Supreme Court,” Sen. Susan Collins says, concluding that, in her view, the accusations by Ford failed to meet a “more likely than not” standard that Collins is using to judge them.

Sen. Lamar Alexander just compared Sen. Susan Collins to Sen. Margaret Chase Smith. ... Smith famously led the charge against a nominee from her own party: Nixon #SCOTUS nominee Clement Haynsworth Jr. (McConnell echoed the Smith-Collins comparison as well.)