he retirement of US Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy gave Donald Trump the chance to nominate his second conservative to the highest court in the land and he did so on 9 July 2018, tipping the nod to appellate court judge Brett Kavanaugh.
The Senate Judiciary Committee held his confirmation hearings from 4 to 7 September and scheduled a vote on his candidacy for the 20th.
But, on the 12th, Senate Democrats announced they had received an accusation of sexual assault against Kavanaugh, leaving the Republican-led committee with no choice but to delay and hear testimony from the complainant.