Election year politics have pushed Senate Democrats to throw up every obstacle they can find in a likely futile effort to derail the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Now that the hearings are over, Senate Democrats, facing likely losses in the November midterm elections and hoping to excite their base, aren’t giving up.
After last week’s chaotic confirmation hearings, which were marked by protesters interrupting the proceedings with shouts until they were dragged out by police, Democrats said they’ll keep digging for ways to try to influence the outcome of the final Senate vote to confirm Kavanaugh, which is slated to take place in late September.
Republicans have a two-vote majority now that Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., has been sworn in to fill the seat vacated by the death of GOP Sen. John McCain.
Only a simple majority is needed to confirm Kavanaugh, leaving Democrats with no real path to block him on their own.
Despite the seemingly impossible math, progressive activists are clamoring for Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other Democratic lawmakers to find a way to stop Kavanaugh from reaching the high court, where he will likely push it firmly to the right for the first time in many decades.
“What more can we do?” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told the Washington Examiner. “I’ll tell you. We’ll use every tool available.”
There isn’t much time.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, plans to set aside this week only for Kavanaugh to answer follow-up questions from panel lawmakers. Grassley said he’ll hold a committee vote on the nominee Sept. 13, which will push the confirmation to the Senate floor.
In the interim, Blumenthal said, Democratic staffers are digging through Kavanaugh’s long paper trail searching for a smoking gun they can use to make the nominee less appealing to moderate Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who are the only remotely possible “no” Republican votes and so far appear ready to confirm him.
“There are more documents,” Blumenthal said as the hearing churned to a conclusion. “We are at it right now.”
For the most part, Democrats were unable to trip up Kavanaugh after two days of intense questioning about his opinions written during 12 years as a federal judge or his time serving in the George W. Bush White House.
Democrats “have not laid a single glove” on Kavanaugh, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said on Fox News.
Democrats pivoted Thursday to the contents of tens of thousands of pages of unreleased documents pertaining to Kavanaugh’s White House employment that Republicans had ruled confidential to the committee.
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., a member of the committee and a possible 2020 presidential contender, led the effort to expose the contents of documents Democrats believe contradict Kavanaugh’s testimony or otherwise raise questions about his fitness for the high court.
Booker released what were once “committee confidential” documents he said related to Kavanaugh’s views on racial profiling. He touted the move on Twitter, daring the Senate to punish him for breaking the rules.
Committee Republicans said the documents had already been made public and accused Booker of grandstanding.
“I think Sen. Booker wants to make himself a martyr in aid of his presidential campaign,” said Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, a member of the Judiciary Committee.
Other Judiciary Committee Democrats joined Booker’s efforts, releasing more “committee confidential” emails, although the documents may have actually been cleared for release by the GOP.
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, tweeted Bush-era Kavanaugh emails she said “show that Judge Kavanaugh wrongly believes that Native Hawaiian programs are Constitutionally questionable.”
She added, “I defy anyone reading this to be able to conclude that it should be deemed confidential in any way, shape, or form.”
In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Hirono said the conclusion of the hearings won’t end her efforts to derail Kavanaugh, who she calls a “fifth vote” because Kavanaugh would join four Republican appointees on the Supreme Court.
“I will continue with every opportunity to talk about the dangers posed by this fifth vote on the Supreme Court,” Hirono said. “Dangers to the Affordable Care Act and a women’s right to choose. And I hope that people are mobilizing across the country to realize this fifth vote will matter to all of their lives. Perhaps something will come out of that.”
Democrats have few parliamentary avenues to slow down the final confirmation vote McConnell is planning for late September.
Schumer last week used Senate rules to try to block the confirmation hearings from continuing, but it resulted only in the Senate floor gaveling to a close for the day while the hearing continued for 12 hours.
Schumer has used daily floor speeches to rail against the nominee and the confirmation process, arguing the GOP is trying to jam through Kavanaugh without revealing his entire record.
“At every turn, the Republican majority, the Trump administration, and Judge Brett Kavanaugh have prevented the Senate and the American people from being truly able to vet the nominee who could affect the lives of Americans for a generation,” Schumer said.
Rep. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said Republicans understand the Democrats’ tactics result from an election year map that has left them poised to lose seats to the GOP in November.
“They are just using the devices that the minority is going to use,” Tillis said. “But at the end of the day, Kavanaugh gets confirmed. And he gets confirmed in time for the Supreme Court session.”
