Judge Brett Kavanaugh on Tuesday was winning praise from conservative organizations and Senate Republicans, including some of the centrist GOP senators, which has some court watchers saying he’s off to a solid start in his bid to be confirmed as the next Supreme Court justice.
“Judge Kavanaugh is off to a strong start with reactions like these from Republican Senate moderates, and that’s a very good sign of things to come,” Ron Bonjean, a GOP operative who managed White House communications during Justice Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation, told the Washington Examiner. “However, it’s a long process, and I’m sure they’re going to have a lot of questions for the judge in their private meetings, as well as during the Judiciary Committee hearing. But that initial reaction is a positive thing.”
After President Trump nominated Kavanaugh Monday night, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she wanted to assess the nominee, but agreed he has “impressive credentials and extensive experience.”
On Tuesday, she followed that up with more positive talk about the nominee.
“Certainly, when you look at the credentials that Judge Kavanaugh brings to the job, it will be very difficult for anyone to argue that he’s not qualified for the job,” Collins said. “He’s clearly qualified for the job, but there are other issues involving judicial temperament and his… judicial philosophy that also will play into my decision.”
The Maine senator is one of several Republicans whose votes will be closely watched, as Republicans hold a narrow majority in the Senate with just 51 members, and Collins had warned in previous interviews she would oppose any nominee who demonstrated a “hostility” toward Roe v. Wade.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has clashed with Trump before, but also praised Kavanaugh’s “impeccable credentials.”
“Over the course of Judge Kavanaugh’s impressive legal career, he has built a reputation as a fair, independent, and mainstream judge who has earned widespread respect from his peers,” McCain said. McCain is not expected to vote as he continues to battle brain cancer, which has left the GOP with just 50 voting senators.
Ed Whelan, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, said he is unsurprised by the favorable reception Kavanaugh has received.
“These are fair and sensible takes on an extraordinarily well-qualified nominee,” he told the Washington Examiner. “Obviously I thought he had a great presentation of himself, and I would think that fair-minded people will see him as tremendously well-qualified.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, will be another key vote for the GOP-led Senate, and has urged “due dilligence” on the nominee even though she believes Kavanaugh “certainly has the qualifications.”
“There’s a lot of work to be done before I think a real, fair analysis of Judge Kavanaugh and his qualifications to serve on our highest court,” she told CNN.
On Tuesday, Kavanaugh was accompanied to Capitol Hill by Vice President Mike Pence and former Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who will guide him through the Senate, to meet with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley.
Kavanaugh is expected to meet with dozens of senators leading up to his confirmation hearings before the Judiciary Committee, including with several red-state Democrats who are facing re-election in November.
Three of those Democrats, Sens. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, supported Gorsuch’s nomination last year, making them prime targets for Republicans. Advocacy groups have also ramped up the pressure on the trio of Democrats by launching ad campaigns in an effort to sway their votes.
Neither Donnelly, Heitkamp, nor Manchin have tipped their hand on how they will vote, and instead have said they need to thoroughly vet the nominee’s record, which spans more than a decade.
But Bonjean noted that the early reactions from Capitol Hill to Kavanaugh’s nomination could have been far different.
“It could have been a very hedged reaction,” he said. “They could’ve hedged their bets and signaled they really wanted to get a deep dive into certain parts of his record that they had concerns about, but they didn’t. Instead, you had reactions that actually praised the judge’s record. This is a strong start, but it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
Four candidates to replace Kennedy, all federal appeals court judges, emerged last week as possible nominees: Kavanaugh, Thomas Hardiman, Raymond Kethledge, and Amy Coney Barrett. But Bonjean said if Trump selected another nominee, it’s possible the reaction from key senators would have been less positive.
“There were other choices that could’ve been much more of a lightning rod, and Kavanaugh definitely passed the first test, which is the introduction to the Senate and to America at large,” he said.
