Alabama Sen. Doug Jones called Sunday on the Senate Judiciary Committee to "hit the pause button" on the vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Washington Post published a story Sunday afternoon in which California professor Christine Ford publicly accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault while the two were in high school more than 30 years ago. After the story ran, Jones tweeted that the vote shouldn't take place "until we can fully investigate these serious and disturbing allegations."

He said Ford took "a very brave step" in coming forward with the accusation.

This was a very brave step to come forward. It is more important than ever to hit the pause button on Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote until we can fully investigate these serious and disturbing allegations. We cannot rush to move forward under this cloud. https://t.co/SIHzdnnOFJ — Doug Jones (@SenDougJones) September 16, 2018

As a Democratic senator in a deeply Republican state, Jones could be a swing vote in Kavanaugh's nomination.

But, as he told AL.com on Sunday, he wants to see the Senate Judiciary committee to halt the vote to give enough time for a "full and fair" investigation of the allegations.

"Even though they were a long time ago, they're still very disturbing," he said. "There is credibility to them, from someone coming forward knowing the backlash that's going to happen."

Jones pointed out that he'd been critical of the nomination process before the sexual assault accusation against Kavanaugh, expressing frustration at the "rush" and lack of time senators have had to review a mountain of documents relating to Kavanaugh's career.

Jones reflected on his unique situation, having defeated Senate candidate Roy Moore nearly one year ago after the Washington Post published a story in which four women publicly accused Moore of sexual assault.

"We had some people that said it was a last ditch effort to derail (Moore's) candidacy, but those allegations had serious credibility and disqualified Roy Moore from being in the U.S. Senate," he said. "We're not there just yet with (the accusation against Kavanaugh). This is all breaking news today, but it's exactly the reason why we need to hit the pause button and not rush this to judgment."

Earlier Sunday, before the story published that publicly revealed Ford as the writer of the accusation letter, Jones told CNN's Jake Tapper that he doubted the then-anonymous letter would play much of a role in the confirmation process unless the accuser came forward publicly.

"You're not going to be able to really test it unless somebody comes forward with more information," he told Tapper.

The Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans appear to be moving forward with a vote on Kavanaugh. They issued a statement through spokesman Taylor Foy Sunday, saying in part, "It's disturbing that these uncorroborated allegations from more than 35 years ago, during high school, would surface on the eve of a committee vote," and blamed Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats for not bringing them up earlier.

Jones refused to give details on his calculus for deciding which way to vote on Kavanaugh. But, he said, it wouldn't be fair to the Kavanaugh or the American people to nominate someone to a lifetime appointment "with a cloud over his head."

"This is an incredibly important nomination," he said, "and our constitutional duties require we give a full and fair investigation."