WASHINGTON – The Senate could confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in days if he clears the Judiciary Committee on Friday and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is ready – meaning he has the votes.

The nomination faced a critical test Thursday when the committee questioned Christine Blasey Ford, the California psychology professor who accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were in high school.

Kavanaugh, who appeared after Ford, vehemently denied the allegation. "You may defeat me in the final vote, but you’ll never get me to quit. Never," he told the committee.

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The committee has 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats and, following the hearing, scheduled a vote for 9:30 a.m. Friday. If the committee approves the nomination, it would then go to the full Senate.

Following the daylong hearing, no senator on the committee immediately said he or she had changed their mind.

"I don’t think they’ve met their burden of proof," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. "I think it’s time to vote.”

“The longer that the nomination remains open we know that more and more of these scurrilous, anonymous and uncorroborated allegations will be made," he said. "Unfortunately, that’s part of the 'search and destroy' process that, frankly, I think is an embarrassment to the Senate."

Moments after the hearing, Trump tweeted his support for Kavanaugh and urged senators to vote.

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Tweeted Trump: "Judge Kavanaugh showed America exactly why I nominated him. His testimony was powerful, honest, and riveting. Democrats’ search and destroy strategy is disgraceful and this process has been a total sham and effort to delay, obstruct, and resist. The Senate must vote!"

The committee's recommendation is an important step in confirmation, and it is rare that the Senate rejects a nominee who cleared the committee. But rejection by the committee is also not final: There have been cases where a nominee has been brought up in the full Senate without committee approval.

If the committee approves the nomination, or if the nomination is sent to the floor by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, without a recommendation, McConnell could make a motion on Saturday to end debate.

Unless there is unanimous consent to waive the rules, McConnell, R-Ky., would have to wait until Monday at the earliest for a vote on that motion.

Passage would require the same 51 votes for passage – or a 50-50 vote with Vice President Mike Pence breaking a tie – as the confirmation vote, so it will be a clear indication of where Kavanaugh stands. If a senator is planning to oppose Kavanaugh in the final vote, it is unlikely he or she would vote to end debate, because if that motion fails, McConnell could not bring the nomination up for confirmation. Debate, in effect, would continue in perpetuity.

Conversely, if Kavanaugh gets 50 or more votes on the procedural vote, he would likely get the same in the final vote.

The rules say at least 30 hours must pass after the procedural motion passes. That means if the motion to end debate were held early Monday, the final vote could come late in the day Tuesday.

Asked by reporters this week if he had enough Senate votes to approve Kavanaugh's nomination, McConnell replied: "I believe he'll be confirmed, yes."

Whether Kavanaugh survives likely will depend on a handful of Republican senators: Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, both supporters of abortion rights, have remained noncommittal. So has Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, a member of the judiciary panel and frequent critic of Trump who is not seeking re-election. Flake did not ask Kavanaugh a question during his five-minute period.

Christal Hayes contributed.

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