Rand Paul had publicly suggested he might not support Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump’s second supreme court nominee. On Monday, he endorsed him.

The Kentucky senator said he would back Kavanaugh despite misgivings about the judge’s views on surveillance and privacy.

Few had expected Paul would oppose Trump’s pick in the end.

In March, the Kentucky senator said he would do “whatever it takes” to block the approval of Mike Pompeo as secretary of state, over the former congressman’s views on the Iraq war and interventionist foreign policy.

In April, Paul flipped and approved the nomination.

In May, Paul did vote against Gina Haspel, Trump’s pick to succeed Pompeo at the CIA, over her role in the agency’s historic use of torture. She was confirmed anyway, thanks to Democratic swing votes.

Paul’s endorsement gave Kavanaugh a boost as he prepared to sit down on Monday afternoon with Joe Manchin, Democrat of West Virginia, who backed Haspel and is again seen by Republicans as a likely pickup.

Manchin was one of three Democrats who voted to confirm Trump’s first supreme court pick, Neil Gorsuch. Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, who both supported Haspel, were the others. All three are up for re-election in states Trump won easily in 2016.



Republicans have a 51-49 majority in the Senate. Given the absence of John McCain, who is fighting brain cancer at home in Arizona, they cannot afford to lose a single Republican vote if all Democrats vote “no”.

Manchin has said he is interested in Kavanaugh’s views on the Affordable Care Act and its protections for people with pre-existing conditions. He has also asked West Virginia residents to send him questions for the nominee.

Paul had let Trump – about whom he was scathing during the 2016 election but with whom he has since played golf – know he preferred other potential nominees he viewed as more conservative. He also expressed concern over Kavanaugh’s record on warrantless bulk collection of data and how that might apply to important privacy cases.

Paul said he hoped Kavanaugh “will be more open to a fourth amendment that protects digital records and property”. Yet he also said his vote did not hinge on one issue.

“I believe he will carefully adhere to the constitution and will take his job to protect individual liberty seriously,” Paul said.