Troy Covington, counsel at the Bloom Parham firm in Atlanta and a legal expert with experience in Supreme Court issues, spoke to Business Insider on Tuesday about what Senators will likely focus on during Kavanaugh’s confirmation process and the long-term influence Kavanaugh could exert on the court.
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Yet there’s little doubt that Kavanaugh, a solidly conservative, politically connected judge, would shift the nation’s highest court further to the right.
But perhaps more important than all of those issues, at least from a confirmation prospects perspective: Republican Sens.
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., joined Smith in tweeting about Kavanaugh’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ruling earlier this year, and statements the judge has made in favor of a net neutrality repeal.
“I will talk to my colleagues”, Democratic Senator Kamala Harris told AFP, referring to Collins and Murkowski, as well as the three red-state Democrats, each of whom voted for Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch a year ago. But the 42% who said that abortion should be legal in all or most cases overwhelmingly voted for Doug Jones – at 81%.
Of the three scenarios presented here, this is clearly the best for the Democratic Party.
Republicans want to have Kavanaugh confirmed by the start of the court’s session in October and before the midterm election.
She and the other Democrats on this list all turned down invites from the White House to attend Kavanaugh’s announcement, which was widely viewed as a symbolic effort to keep their independence in this process. “He’s conservative. but I think he is respectful of the court and the court system as institutions”.
It’s easier to motivate angry voters than those who are satisfied.
But Republicans hold the narrowest of majorities in the Senate: 51 Republicans, against 49 Democrats and Independents.
Democrats have targeted health care, abortion rights and past writings on presidential investigations in the initial stages of their push to sink Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination. Even before Trump named Brett Kavanaugh, setting off what’s expected to be one of the most contentious battles for a high court seat in years, they had decided upon Kyl as the nominee’s chief Sherpa.
That sounds like a recipe for defeat for those Democrats in the fall.
Leipold said it’s possible Kavanaugh’s feelings simply evolved over time but noted that Kavanaugh had authored a similar article in 1998, near the end of the Starr investigation, in which he said he “fully appreciated that this could be disruptive of the president doing his duties”.
Kavanaugh was hired as a law clerk for Justice Anthony Kennedy in 1993 and was even sworn in by Kennedy as a judge on the D.C. Court of Appeals in 2003.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was the first to meet with Kavanaugh, along with Vice President Mike Pence and Kavanaugh’s “sherpa” throughout the confirmation process, former Arizona GOP Sen.
The conservative action group Judicial Crisis Network immediately launched a website called ConfirmKavanaugh.com featuring an advertisement for the nominee who “applies the Constitution just as it was written”. But there is only one case in Kavanaugh’s record that is related to reproductive rights.
Multiple Republicans voting against confirmation would also change things, since that would give all Senate Democrats an excuse for opposing confirmation. Democrats have vowed to delay the hearing.
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In fact, it might be worse.
