PAPERS PLEASE | Tensions Rise Over Nominee’s Records | Who Will Be The Biggest Loser In SCOTUS Fight
July 25, 2018
IT'S GETTING HOT IN HERE
|PUT ME IN COACH
|Amy Howe with SCOTUSblog reviewed the questionnaire JUDGE KAVANAUGH turned in late last week and delivers some interesting tidbits from his responses. Check out what she learned about his basketball days — yes basketball, not baseball — and which cases he thinks were the most important in his career.
SUPREME SNUB
|NPR’s Kelsey Snell explained on All Things Considered yesterday that Senate Democrats are refusing to hold meetings with JUDGE KAVANAUGH pending an agreement to see all documents relevant to Kavanaugh’s career, dating back to his work as a staff secretary at the White House under GEORGE W. BUSH. When asked if this could really slow a confirmation vote, Snell said, “That’s the question I’ve been trying to figure out all week. And really, it kind of depends on whether the six or seven senators who might be undecided decide that they want this information, people like Republicans RAND PAUL and SUSAN COLLINS or Democrats who are up for re-election in those states that voted for Trump like HEIDI HEITKAMP or JOE MANCHIN. Now, if they say they want more documents, that could be persuasive.”
HUDDLE UP
|NPR’s Kelsey Snell explained on All Things Considered yesterday that Senate Democrats are refusing to hold meetings with JUDGE KAVANAUGH pending an agreement to see all documents relevant to Kavanaugh’s career, dating back to his work as a staff secretary at the White House under GEORGE W. BUSH. When asked if this could really slow a confirmation vote, Snell said, “That’s the question I’ve been trying to figure out all week. And really, it kind of depends on whether the six or seven senators who might be undecided decide that they want this information, people like Republicans RAND PAUL and SUSAN COLLINS or Democrats who are up for re-election in those states that voted for Trump like HEIDI HEITKAMP or JOE MANCHIN. Now, if they say they want more documents, that could be persuasive.”
ALL COMES BACK TO YOU
|Could BRETT KAVANAUGH’S path to the Supreme Court really run through SENATOR RAND PAUL? That’s what the senator would like us to think. Byron Tau with The Wall Street Journal reports on Paul admitting he’s still undecided about the nominee due to some concerns over Kavanaugh’s views on national-security issues that affect the privacy rights of Americans.
THE FLIP SIDE
|Perhaps the most vulnerable Senate Republican in the country — DEAN HELLER — could be the one person in the GOP to pay dearly for supporting JUDGE KAVANAUGH’S nomination. James Arkin and Burgess Everett with POLITICO note that Heller is the sole GOP senator defending a seat in a state that HILLARY CLINTON won. “Democrats say Heller’s quick endorsement of Kavanaugh is the linchpin of their strategy to portray him as a Trump yes-man this fall.”
SCOTUS VIEWS
Tricky Dick Schumer
The Wall Street Journal“As expected, Mr. Schumer has demanded millions of documents from Mr. Kavanaugh’s years in government to push a confirmation vote past the November election. The New Yorker has refused even to meet with Mr. Kavanaugh unless Republicans first agree to let Democrats dive through the Bush and Clinton archives. When he was Minority Leader in 2013, Mitch McConnell met with nominee Elena Kagan within two days.”
What Brett Kavanaugh Must Be Asked About Torture, Guantanamo, And Mass Surveillance
The New YorkerDems Struggle On Kavanaugh
The Hill“Democrats are struggling to find an opening in their fight to sink Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination. They can’t block the nominee on their own, but they’re under intense pressure from liberals to wage a full-scale attack against Kavanaugh as they try to sway the one or two Republicans needed to sink President Trump’s pick and score a major victory heading into the midterm elections.”