SALT LAKE CITY — Both of Utah's Republican senators were among the 51-49 vote majority Friday advancing Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court to a final vote.

"While I am disappointed that partisan politics and mob rule played such a large role in today's vote as close as it was, the Senate took an important step toward confirmation," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in a statement.

Kavanaugh "is unquestionably qualified. He has gone through the most thorough vetting process I've ever seen," Hatch said. "We know what we need to know. The American people know what they need to know."

Hatch said that it is "time to confirm this good man to the Supreme Court."

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, also voted in favor of moving the confirmation forward in what was seen as a key procedural vote. The final decision on Kavanaugh's nomination by President Donald Trump could come as soon as Saturday.

"Sen. Lee is pleased the Senate voted to end debate on Judge Kavanaugh's nomination and he looks forward to voting for his final confirmation tomorrow," Lee spokesman Conn Carroll said.

Lee is expected to deliver a speech on the Senate floor about Kavanaugh this afternoon.

The tumultuous confirmation process resulted in an FBI investigation into allegations heard by the Senate Judiciary Committee from Christine Blasey Ford, who testified she was sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh when they were both teenagers.

Kavanaugh, a federal judge, has denied the allegations. His testimony in response to Ford before the same committee has generated concern about his judicial temperament, including from within the legal community.

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Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh clears crucial Senate hurdle

A deeply divided Senate pushed Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination past a key procedural hurdle Friday, setting up a likely final showdown on Saturday in a spellbinding battle that's seen claims of long-ago sexual assault by the nominee threaten President Donald Trump's effort to tip the court rightward for decades.

Fifteen Utah law professors, from both the University of Utah and Brigham Young University, joined more than 2,400 colleagues from around the country in signing a letter to the Senate urging that Kavanaugh not be confirmed.

There have also been confrontations between senators and protesters on Capitol Hill. On Thursday, a video circulated of Hatch shooing away several women who approached him as he was entering an elevator and telling them to "grow up."

Hatch spokesman Matt Whitlock said in response to the video that Hatch "has been screamed at and harassed by the very same protesters who tried to prevent confirmation hearings from even happening."

Whitlock said Hatch's personal information was shared by a Democratic staffer and that, "Republicans have received every kind of death threat imaginable — all for supporting Judge Brett Kavanaugh."

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