Democrats and demonstrators vented rage and resistance but the Senate rolled toward approving Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination Saturday as President Trump and Republicans approached an election-season triumph in the most electrifying confirmation battle in years.

Capping a venomous struggle that transfixed Americans when it veered into claims that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted women in the 1980s and his fierce denials, the 53-year-old conservative’s nomination was on track for afternoon approval. He seemed certain to win by a slender two votes in a near party-line roll call.

Democrats tried making sure that female voters were paying attention.

“Republicans are saying: your voices just don’t matter,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said Saturday. “Your experiences, your trauma, your pain, your heartache, your anger — none of that matters. Their message is, ‘we don’t have to listen. We don’t have to care. Sit down and be quiet.’”


As she spoke, several hundred anti-Kavanaugh demonstrators chanted on the lawn between the Capitol and the Supreme Court. “We believe survivors,” they yelled. Protesters have roamed Capitol Hill corridors and grounds daily, raising anxieties and underscoring the passions the nomination fight has aroused.