Brett Kavanaugh kicked off his first day of Senate meetings on Tuesday by talking with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and is expected to schedule several others in the coming weeks in his bid to win confirmation as the next Supreme Court justice.
Trump nominated Kavanaugh Monday night, and the judge was accompanied to the Senate on Tuesday by Vice President Mike Pence and former Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who has been selected to shepherd him through the process.
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Kavanaugh met with McConnell, R-Ky., in the leader’s office near the Senate chamber at 11 a.m.
“I think the president made an outstanding nomination,” McConnell said as he stood in his office next to Kavanaugh, Pence, ad Kyl. “We look forward to the confirmation process and it will unfold in the next few weeks.”
Pence said the White House “is very confident,” the confirmation process will show Kavanaugh “is the most qualified and most deserving” of the appointment to the Supreme Court. None of the men answered questions from reporters about whether they believe they can win over any Democrats.
Kavanaugh is also expected to sit down with another critical leader, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who will decide the pace and timing of Kavanaugh’s confirmation process. Grassley has not scheduled Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing yet, and Republicans are pushing to have him on the bench by Oct. 1, the start of the court’s next term.
Kavanaugh will meet with other GOP leaders this week and will likely begin meeting with Democratic leaders and members of the Judiciary Committee, all the while followed by a press scrum eager to catch any hallway comment of reaction from lawmakers on their sit-downs with the nominee.
Kavanaugh is expected to schedule critical meetings with Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, two lawmakers who have questions about whether he would vote to overturn legal abortion or Obamacare’s provisions.
He’ll also sit down with red-state Democrats who may vote for him. The list includes Sens. Joe Manchin, of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp, of North Dakota, and Joe Donnelly, of Indiana. The trio voted last year to confirm Justice Neil Gorsuch and are up for re-election in states that backed Trump by double digits.
With Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., not voting, Republicans hold a slim 50-49 majority in the Senate, which means the GOP will have to pick up a Democratic vote for every Republican that defects.
