The American Bar Association asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to suspend its consideration of Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court until the FBI can complete an investigation into allegations of sexual assault against California professor Christine Blasey Ford, according to a report published late Thursday.

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The organization asked the Republican-controlled committee not to hold a vote Friday morning. The Senate is expected to vote as a body on Kavanaugh's nomination this weekend.

The ABA said it's jumping in now because its leaders believe the Senate must remain "an institution that will reliably follow the law and not politics," according to CNN.

"The basic principles that underscore the Senate's constitutional duty of advice and consent on federal judicial nominees require nothing less than a careful examination of the accusations and facts by the FBI," the bar's president, Robert Carlson, wrote in a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and its ranking Democratic member, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

"Each appointment to our nation's Highest Court (as with all others) is simply too important to rush to a vote," Carlson continued. "Deciding to proceed without conducting additional investigation would not only have a lasting impact on the Senate's reputation, but it will also negatively affect the great trust necessary for the American people to have in the Supreme Court."

The bar's dissent is unexpected after it endorsed Kavanaugh for the job. The federal judge even touted the ABA's praise during his second testimony earlier Thursday.

"For 12 years, everyone who has appeared before me on the D.C. Circuit has praised my judicial temperament," Kavanaugh said Thursday. "That's why I have the unanimous, well-qualified rating from the American Bar Association."