Democrats have an endgame in mind when it comes to thwarting Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, revealed as much in an interview this week.
Speaking to Politico, Hirono said Senate Democrats will try to keep retired Justice Anthony Kennedy’s seat vacant until after the 2020 elections, should Kavanaugh’s confirmation ultimately fail. That task will be much easier if they manage to recapture control of the upper chamber, which some analysts believe is quickly becoming a stronger possibility.
“I think we’ve had those kinds of vacancies before, and we certainly had over a one-year vacancy with Merrick Garland,” said Hirono. “So the world does not come to an end because we don’t fill all of the nominees.”
The notion that Hirono would refrain from obstructing the confirmation of “someone whom she considers less of a conservative ideologue” is laughable. There is no person a Republican president could nominate that she or any of her peers would support.
But that’s obvious. Her admission that Democrats would gladly leave the seat vacant until after 2020 – more than two years from now – is more interesting, because it underscores why they’re doing everything they can to obstruct Kavanaugh now.
The Senate map is favorable to Republicans this cycle, but the party is struggling in key states and some battleground races are tighter than the GOP would like.
Republicans are right to investigate the claim of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh, even if its handling by Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats was suspect. But sentiments like Hirono’s help explain Democrats’ eagerness to condemn Kavanaugh without any semblance of a fair process, or even without his accuser’s testimony.
The claim should be investigated, yes, but Democrats are desperate to delay any confirmation, Kavanaugh or not. If his confirmation is successfully thwarted, and they win back the Senate, take Hirono at her word and expect the seat to stay vacant until 2021, when they hope President Trump will be out of office.
[Related: Female Senate Democrats tell male GOP colleagues to ‘shut up’ and ‘do the right thing’]
