ONE WOMAN’S CIVIC DUTY | One Republican Senator’s Stand | One Week To Investigate
September 28, 2018
A MORNING OF FALSE STARTS
|The Senate Judiciary Committee just voted to approve the nomination of JUDGE BRETT KAVANAUGH to the Supreme Court and send the nomination to a full Senate vote — but not after all the drama fit for a future HBO special. At the beginning of the committee meeting, four Democrats stormed out of the hearing room when Republicans scheduled a “time certain” vote on the nominee for 1:30 PM. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse, Richard Blumenthal, Mazie Hirono and Kamala Harris burst out of the room and shortly beforehand SENATOR HIRONO yelled, “I strongly object. This is just totally ridiculous. What a railroad job. My answer is no, no, no!”
LOOK AT ME
|This morning, SENATOR JEFF FLAKE had said that he was prepared to vote in favor of the nominee. But just after he released his statement of support, he was stopped in the elevator on his way to the committee vote by two women. One after the other the two women confronted the senator for supporting Kavanaugh, blocking the elevator door and angrily demanding to be heard as they cried. One of the women, ANA MARIA ARCHILA, yelled, “What you are doing is allowing someone who actually violated a woman to sit on the Supreme Court. This is not tolerable. You have children in your family. Think about them.” She added, “I cannot imagine that for the next 50 years they will have to have someone in the Supreme Court who has been accused of violating a young girl. What are you doing, sir?”
A CHANGE OF HEART
|In the hearing room, just before the vote, it was unclear what was going on while senators remained outside having hushed conversations in an anteroom to the committee chamber for nearly an hour. SENATOR CHUCK GRASSLEY paced back and forth between his seat and the anteroom until finally the senators emerged and allowed SENATOR JEFF FLAKE to make an announcement. He said he wants an FBI investigation and wouldn’t feel comfortable supporting final confirmation of BRETT KAVANAUGH until after the investigation took place. He said, “We ought to do what we can to make sure we do all due diligence with a nomination this important.” Flake’s intervention means a final Senate vote on the nomination could be delayed for up to a week so that the possible FBI investigation can be completed, if Republican Senate leaders agree to his demand. “I will vote to advance the nominee to the floor with that understanding,” Flake said.
NOW WHAT
|It’s been reported that Senate Republicans are huddling to do the math and see what options they have now that Flake — and possibly others, ahem, LISA MURKOWSKI — have said they won’t vote in favor of JUDGE KAVANAUGH without an FBI investigation. But what difference would such an investigation make? NPR’s Philip Ewing says there are several reasons why the FBI’s involvement could change the trajectory for the nomination because it would increase the political heft of testimony provided by Kavanaugh, Blasey Ford, and potentially MARK JUDGE and others.
LOUDER ISN'T ALWAYS BETTER
|In case you’re really behind on the news, catch up quick on the key takeaways from yesterday’s hearing in which DR. CHRISTINE BLASEY FORD testified that she was 100% sure BRETT KAVANAUGH sexually assaulted her in high school. Later in the day, the Supreme Court nominee defended himself by unequivocally denying the allegations by delivering an angry, shouty and, at times belligerent, testimony. But one of the most explosive moments came not from the subjects of the hearing, but from SENATOR LINDSAY GRAHAM. Catie Edmonson with The New York Times reports Graham “exploded into a tirade directed at his Democratic colleagues.” He said, “Boy, you all want power. God, I hope you never get it. I hope the American people can see through this sham that you knew about it and you held it. You had no intention of protecting Dr. Ford. None. She’s as much of a victim as you.”
JUST A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY REPEATING
|“History repeated itself. At least it had a spell of deja vu when the American Bar Association released an extraordinary statement at a crucial moment that raised concerns about Brett M. Kavanaugh’s nomination to a powerful judicial position — just as it had done 12 years earlier.” That’s Avi Selk with The Washington Post reporting on the ABA announcing late last night that the FBI should investigate the allegations against Kavanaugh. This came hours after the nominee and his defenders had cited the ABA’s previously glowing endorsement of the nominee — “the gold standard,” as one leading Republican put it.
ED BOARD OVERTURE
|The Editorial Board of The New York Times thinks BRETT KAVANAUGH wasn’t believable, but DR. CHRISTINE BLASEY FORD was. Why? Because he spent his time answering questions from Democrats with an attitude that was “evidence of an unsettling temperament in a man trying to persuade the nation of his judicial demeanor.”
NOT OVER YET
|Republican leadership — AKA SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL — still hasn’t announced their plan to move forward with a full Senate vote in light of this morning’s news out of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. We’ll be back Monday with whatever the weekend brings.