Kavanaugh approaches the bench

The Senate is moving toward a vote confirming Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. In a key procedural vote Friday afternoon, every Republican senator except Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski voted to proceed to the nomination. Every Democrat except West Virginia’s Joe Manchin voted against. It’s been an ugly battle. Does Kavanaugh deserve to sit on the court? Did the FBI investigate enough? And does it matter if he got in a bar fight in 1985? Emily Bazelon joins the panel to give her take. Then: are you having terrible flashbacks to the scandals of the 1990’s? Steve Kornacki argues the bitter fault lines we see today were laid in the Clinton versus Gingrich fights of twenty years ago. Can we escape? Then, even though it seems like it was many years ago, a deal to replace NAFTA is just days old. Amy Celicoanalyzes it and major developments in the US-China relationship this week.

Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump's nominee to be associate justice of the Supreme Court, arrives to meet with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 24, 2018. Photo credit: Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters