Kavanaugh’s confirmation and the arrival of The Squad

In the ninth instalment of our series recapping an unprecedented presidency, Joe Sommerlad looks at an angry Senate, a bogus immigration scare and a blue wave

Shaking things up: (from left) congresswomen Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known as ‘The Squad’ (Getty)

The 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.