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Title: Senate resistance to Judge Kavanaugh is collapsing
Source:
HotAir
URL Source: https://hotair.com/archives/2018/07 ... sistance-kavanaugh-collapsing/
Published: Jul 11, 2018
Author: John Sexton
Post Date: 2018-07-11 20:19:24 by Tooconservative
Keywords: None
Views: 1429
Comments: 14
Such dodges only whetted the appetites of Republicans, who taunted the Democrats for their hesitation and, in some cases, predicted they would eventually give in and support Judge Kavanaugh… Perhaps no Republican Senate hopeful was more eager to hold up the court issue than Josh Hawley, the Missouri attorney general and former Supreme Court clerk who is challenging Senator Claire McCaskill. Mr. Hawley predicted that his rival would oppose Judge Kavanaugh because her focus is “stopping Donald Trump.” Ms. McCaskill vowed only to make “an independent judgment” on the appointment, but did point out she had voted for nearly 80 percent of Mr. Trump’s judicial nominations. “That doesn’t sound like someone who is a knee-jerk partisan,” she said. The political calculus could be simpler for Democrats if Judge Kavanaugh appears almost certain to be confirmed. If the Republican caucus is bound to ultimately fall in line and approve Mr. Trump’s choice on a party-line vote, then some Democrats would prefer not see their most endangered incumbents hectored by liberal donors and activists for what would be only a show of symbolic opposition. “Our base doesn’t like hearing this, but it comes down to math: You either have the votes or you don’t,” said Jim Manley, a former Senate Democratic aide. “And I’m not so sure the votes are there to beat Brett Kavanaugh.” Sen. Heitkamp gets a passing mention in the piece, but it sounds like she is also thinking about her prospects in November as she weighs the nomination: — Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 11, 2018 So it sounds as if the resistance to Kavanaugh is going to fall on the shoulders of Senators Collins and Murkowski, two Republicans who lean left on abortion. Only it seems that’s not working out for the left either. From Politico: Collins (R-Maine) told reporters that while she wouldn’t directly compare Kavanaugh with Barrett, she touted Kavanaugh’s experience and sounded warm notes about him while insisting she has yet to decide. “It will be very difficult for anyone to argue that he’s not qualified for the job. He clearly is qualified for the job,” Collins said. “But there are other issues involving judicial temperament and his political, or rather, his judicial philosophy that also will play into my decision.” Granted that’s not a yes, but it’s also not the ‘Hell no!’ the left was hoping for. Unless the oppo-researchers can come up with something pretty dramatic in the next couple weeks, I think this is a done deal. Uh-oh, maybe I spoke too soon. The Washington Post just changed everything: That’s probably going to be the highlight of the confirmation hearings right there. Sen. Chuck Schumer, or someone even more desperate, is going to ask about Keg Club. Good luck with that. Poster Comment: Cocaine Mitch will drag out this vote for maximum political advantage.
The New York Times published a piece today with the bland title “For Midterms, Supreme Court Political Drama Plays to Its Audience.” It turns out that’s a nice way of saying vulnerable Senate Democrats are struggling between telling the base what it wants to hear and reality. Right now, it sounds as if reality is winning: Making his way through the Capitol, Senator Bill Nelson of Florida said “look at my statement” three times in 15 seconds when pressed about the appointment, hoping to let his carefully worded news release carry the day. Heitkamp, a vulnerable Democrat, said of Brett Kavanaugh's nomination, "elections have consequences" and she'll give him an "open-minded evaluation." She also said all his docs should be disclosed. “I’m going to vote however I’m going to vote regardless of what" Schumer says “Let’s put it this way: There were some who have been on the list that I would have had a very, very difficult time supporting, just based on what was already publicly known about them,” Murkowski (R-Alaska) said in an interview on Monday. “We’re not dealing with that.” In Kavanaugh’s Georgetown Prep yearbook, he listed himself as the treasurer of the “Keg City Club — 100 Kegs or Bust” and included references to the “Beach Week Ralph Club” and “Rehoboth Police Fan Club.”
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#3. To: Tooconservative, 100s of Prosecutors investigating Kavanaugh, Judge Swamp (#0)
(Edited)
The jig is up, Swampy Kavanaugh is facing some serious vetting. Judge Kavi the Clinton bagman may have to go back to fixing parking tickets. In a somewhat unprecedented move, Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein has asked the offices of all 93 U.S. attorneys to each provide up to three federal prosecutors to assist the Justice Department in reviewing government records of President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Even The New York Times admits this move is "an unusual insertion of politics into federal law enforcement." While the Justice Department has helped work on previous Supreme Court nominations, department lawyers in Washington typically carry out that task, not prosecutors who pursue criminal investigations nationwide. Mr. Rosenstein’s email, which had the subject line “Personal Message to U.S. Attorneys From the Deputy A.G.,” included the sentence, “We need your help in connection with President Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to serve on the Supreme Court.” Former law enforcement officials told the Times that Rosenstein's request is troubling. "It’s flat-out wrong to have career federal prosecutors engaged in a political process like the vetting of a Supreme Court nominee. It takes them away from the mission they’re supposed to be fulfilling, which is effective criminal justice enforcement," Christopher Hunter, a former F.B.I. agent and federal prosecutor for almost 11 years, told the publication. But Michael Zubrensky, a former Justice Department lawyer who oversaw the agency's Office of Legal Policy, said Kavanaugh's long paper trail could be the reason for Rosenstein's request. Sarah Isgur Flores, spokeswoman for the Department of Justice, told the Times that prosecutors have been used in the past to vet Supreme Court nominees. "[T]he scope of the production of executive branch documents we’ve been asked for is many, many times as large," she said. Rosenstein also wrote that he would need the equivalent of 100 full-time attorneys to work on the nominee's confirmation hearing. As The Hill notes, Kavanaugh previously worked for President George W. Bush's administration, as well as for the investigation led by Kenneth Starr of former President Clinton. He left a lengthy paper trail that Democrats and outside groups opposed to his nomination are likely to search through for arguments against his confirmation. Rosenstein has faced pressure from congressional Republicans over his role in overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Democrats have raised the Mueller probe in the context of Kavanaugh's nomination, arguing that he should not be confirmed because he could end up making decisions on the probe itself.
Kavanagh does have a very large paper trail. There are at least 8 large boxes of briefs he wrote for the Starr investigation, for instance. Those are going to get some very close scrutiny. Kavanagh is quite the talented writer supposedly. So they will have to read all those papers and check the precedents he cites, etc. It seems excessive to ask all the feds to help do a vetting though.
#8. To: Tooconservative (#4)
Rosenstein should be so concerned about processing documents that are under subpoena by the legislature.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestIn Unprecedented Move, Rosenstein Asks 100s Of Prosecutors To Review SCOTUS Pick's Records
#4. To: hondo68 (#3)
Replies to Comment # 4. It seems excessive to ask all the feds to help do a vetting though.
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