MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said Monday that she believes U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh “should be confirmed” based on what she knows, but added that she has only seen news accounts of his confirmation process.
Asked her opinion of President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Ivey first said it was the job of senators to investigate. She then expressed support for Kavanaugh with some disclaimers.
“I think he should be confirmed,” Ivey said when asked if he should be confirmed based on what she knows now.
“But see I’m not there to see it eyeball-to-eyeball so that’s not a fair question. It’s the role of the senators in the Senate to evaluate the information they have and exercise their good judgment,” Ivey said.
The Senate could vote this week on whether to confirm Kavanaugh who has denied allegations he sexually assaulted a woman when he was a teenager in the 1980s.
Ivey said she had seen some, but not all of the news reports, and said those were second-hand information.
Ivey came under some criticism last year when she said she was voting for Roy Moore in the U.S. Senate race because he was a Republican even though she had “had no reason to disbelieve” sexual misconduct allegations against him.
Ivey later noted that Moore denied the allegations.
Democratic challenger Walt Maddox has not taken a public position on the appointment. His campaign said in a statement that Maddox is “focused on the fact that our state is ranked near the bottom of every major category.”
“Fixing that will be the job of the next governor and not the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Senate has its job to do, they are doing it, and they should be allowed to complete it,” the campaign said in a statement.
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