Kavanaugh seeks new tone after bitter court confirmation fight

Kavanaugh, who served as part of special counsel Kenneth Starr’s team that investigated Democratic President Bill Clinton in the 1990s and testified that the sexual misconduct accusations were funded by left-wing groups seeking revenge on behalf of the Clintons, said the Supreme Court was not a partisan body.

“The Supreme Court is an institution of law. It is not a partisan or political institution,” he said. “The Supreme Court is a team of nine, and I will always be a team player on the team of nine.”

Kavanaugh’s confirmation proceedings exploded in controversy after Christine Blasey Ford went public with allegations that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in 1982.

Kavanaugh gave a forceful, emotional denial of those allegations during testimony before lawmakers that some Democrats said showed a lack of judicial temperament.

The US Senate voted 50-48 on Saturday to confirm him, with just one Democrat supporting him.

His confirmation to the lifetime job was a victory for Trump and locked in a conservative majority on the court.

TRUMP APOLOGIZES FOR PROCESS

“On behalf of our nation, I want to apologize to Brett and the entire Kavanaugh family for the terrible pain and suffering you have been forced to endure,” Trump said at the start of a ceremonial swearing-in.

“Those who step forward to serve our country deserve a fair and dignified evaluation, not a campaign of political and personal destruction based on lies and deception,” he said.

Trump, under pressure from moderate Republican senators, had ordered a brief FBI investigation, whose results Republicans viewed as failing to corroborate the allegations and which Democrats saw as insufficient.

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