A trio of Senate Democrats lambasted their Republican colleagues and Judge Brett Kavanaugh ahead of a Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, saying the actions of their counterparts have been solely about exercising “raw power.”
“From the beginning, it should not be about raw power, influencing the outcome of a decision that is about not only a statement about what we hold as being precious and important about our system of justice, but who will sit for a lifetime on the United States Supreme Court,” Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., told reporters Friday. “And this has been about raw power. You’re seeing that on display in this hearing this morning. You’ve been seeing it from the process from the beginning.”
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The Senate Judiciary Committee gathered Friday morning to discuss Kavanaugh’s nomination and voted along party lines to hold a vote at 1:30 p.m. The forthcoming vote comes after Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her during a party in 1982, appeared before the panel Thursday for an emotional hearing during which they offered competing versions of the events.
Ford emotionally recounted to the 21-member panel the details of the alleged assault, saying she at one point feared Kavanaugh would rape and accidentally kill her.
But Kavanaugh categorically denied the allegation and forcefully defended himself from what he said were smears orchestrated by Senate Democrats.
While Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, was reading his opening statement, Harris and Sens. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., left the room.
After leaving the hearing, Harris called it a “sham” and said the American people “deserve better.”
“This is a failure of this body to do what it has always said that it was about, which is to be deliberative,” Harris said.
Harris’s fellow Democrats excoriated Kavanaugh for the anger displayed at Thursday’s hearing, with Hirono saying he was “nakedly political.”
“We do not need a political operative under this kind of cloud being on the Supreme Court,” Hirono said.
Blumenthal said there was a “coordinated effort” during Thursday’s hearing to change the conversation away from Ford and her allegation to a “partisan attack.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to take up Kavanaugh’s nomination Friday afternoon, and the Senate is expected to hold a procedural vote Saturday, with a final vote coming Tuesday.
Kavanaugh inched closer to confirmation Friday when Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., one of the few undecided Republicans, announced he would vote to confirm Kavanaugh.
But two other key Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have not yet said how they will vote. A handful of undecided Democrats have also remained quiet as to their plans.
