Why are Mitch McConnell and Chuck Grassley, and their Senate Republican brownnosers, refusing to let us all learn more about Mr. Kavanaugh? The answer is simple: They believe the end the justifies the means—a belief that flies square in the face of the American ethic. They are are every bit the fascist that is Donald Trump.
4
The republicans are wise to deflect any real inquiries into the nominees thinking that might reveal what his true intentions are once he is vested with the lifetime robes of Supreme Court Justice. Justice Kavanaugh will be counted on to reverse the democrat atrocity of Roe v Wade that has lead to countless millions of slaughtered innocents, wrenched from their mother's wombs as if they are less than debris. Gay "marriage" Kennedy's legacy, must also be reversed. The founding fathers are turning over in their graves at the thought of a constitution that sanctions men lying down with men. So Republicans must treat this confirmation as a war. Anything goes. Get this nominee confirmed at all costs. Obfuscate, hinder, obstruct...whatever it takes. Lets ram this nominee down every democrat throat in America. That was on the ballot. Trump won. Elections have consequences.
Republicans believe in oligarchy and they’ve created it. Trump believes in dictatorship and is trying to create it. The republicans seem to believe they can control Trump even though time has taught us they are terrified of him. Reminds me of the history of Hitler when the politicians and corporations thought they could control him. He wiped out their means of control step by step, just as what we are seeing now. Hitler used the big lie. Goebbels said if you tell it 3 times, you can make people believe it. Trump tells them hundreds of times and many people believe him.
Goering told us how easy it is to control the people. All you have to do is create an enemy and demonize him, making him less than human. Tell the people that that enemy is going to harm them and you can protect them. Trump is creating fictional enemies everywhere and trying to terrify the people. He plays both the victim and the hero at the same time.
His supporters already believe they are being victimized, so it’s an easy game for him.
43
Why are Republicans doing this? Because they can. They realized when they stone-walled Merrick Garland that they can get away with anything -- with breaking any norms -- in the pursuit of partisan gain. All the norms that depend on ideas of honor, fair play, the rule of law are vulnerable now, and the Republicans are so determined to take advantage of this moment that they have no shame in sacrificing the values of our democracy to "win" this fight.
258
Oh, it's obvious, given Kavanaugh's reported insistence that it would be an undue burden for busy folks like Presidents [and by extension candidates for the Supreme Court] to have to deal with careful inquiries into their work and lives: surely it would be an undue burden on poor Kavanaugh and his supporters to have to tell the truth. Inveterate prevaricators, liars and obscurantists would be at risk of losing so much of what their livelihoods depend upon were they be required to cough up their actual histories.
113
The teaparty/GOP doesn't want full disclosure of the Kavanaugh papers because they do want to overturn Roe v Wade and marriage equality. Simple and sad.
12
This is one of the reasons why Chuck Schumer is such a horrible and ineffective leader for senate democrats. Where is he through all of this nonsense? Why hasn’t he created an incessant drum beat demanding this information?
Sorry, but this piece should have simply been a rehash of what Schumer has been screeching for weeks, not news in itself.
The Democratic Party, the party of roll over and show yellow belly. I’m tired of it.
22
There can be little doubt in anyone's mind that the Democrats' demand for some 2 million documents that "are related" to Kavanaugh is simply a last-ditch attempt to stall the nomination process till after the November 6 election.
Given the current state of party-based mutual animosity, there is no doubt the Republicans would the same tack the positions reversed.
But since the Democrats do not have the means of sufficiently delaying the nomination hearing, they are struggling to find the proverbial needle in the haystack that could derail Kavanaugh. If there were some legitimate ground for opposing the nomination, it would have surfaced long before now considering his long history of government employment, not to mention Washington's propensity to leak like a sieve
Surprisingly (as far as we know), they have not sought out his K-12 papers.
Peter Kelly
Palominas, Arizona
12
When the Democrats next take over the House and Senate, subpoena Kavanaugh’s documents. And if they indicate he may have lied under oath during his confirmation hearings in 2006 or 2018, impeach or indict him, as appropriate. A judgeship gained by fraud should be actionable at any time. However, in this post-truth world, enablers of the lying class will use the same tools to remove honest judges as well. So the underlying problem is not that bad judges will take the bench or that good judges will be removed for disloyalty to a president. The fundamental problem is the corruption of our democracy and all three branches of government, due to the unlimited money and fountains of purposeful propaganda that has taken advantage of the prejudices and weaknesses of the minds of so many susceptible voters.
8
It continues to surprise me that no one seems interested in Kavanaugh's possible role in illegal leaks of supposedly secret grand jury testimony in Starr's investigation of Bill Clinton. Maybe the press does not want to talk about since they were the recipients of the material. I believe there are emails from that period that are also being withheld. You all remember how important emails are don't you?
8
Question: why couldn't Karl Rove, among others, be subpoenaed to give testimony in confirmation hearings regarding what is clearly an unsettled matter -- namely, Kavanaugh's intimate involvement with every decision made in the GWB administration?
Or was that kind of examination only for the likes of Anita Hill?
14
Republicans have been carefully planning to dominate the U.S. Supreme Court (and the lower courts) for decades via the Federalist Society, which has groomed a crop of conservative judicial candidates with the “credentials” needed for appointment. The right law school, a clerkship at the U.S. Supreme Court itself or one of the circuit courts of appeal, the right jobs at the right firms, or at the right federal agency—all resume builders. The Republicans are running professional “farm” teams like Major League Baseball. Democrats, on the other hand, still think of politics as something where only amateurs should play. Democrats pay their party interns in “hopes and dreams” while Republicans pay (Koch-raised) cash. The Republicans play by the rules that exist, and like good litigators try to bend those rules to their advantage when they can. Democrats whine about this or that feature of the political system as not being fair. As my Dad used to say, “what has fair got to do with it?”
I could never be a Republican because I fundamentally disagree with some of the party’s positions. But I de-registered as a Democrat because I just can’t bring myself to continue to be associated with incompetence.
11
The editorial board is asking the wrong question. Anyone can tell you why Republicans are rushing Kavanaugh's appointment. The better question is why they are allowed to break the law. If the Presidential Records Act says they need to wait for the National Archives, they need to wait for the National Archives. End of story. Anything else is a criminal act. We should ask: What is the proper legal recourse to prosecute such a violation?
14
The Board notes that blocking Senators from their constitutional duty to properly evaluate a SCOTUS nominee is a violation of the US Constitution.
Trump is ultimately responsible for this crime as described by the Ed Board, an obviously impeachable offense.
His refusal would normally result in impeachment IF our democracy was alive.
The response of the Executive Department aided by Trump's henchmen in the Senate is that of de facto dictatorship.
Trump, the enemy of US Democracy, has crossed the Rubicon.
13
Delay, delay, delay, that's what the document request is all about.
Not going to happen, he will be on the Supreme bench on the first Monday in October.
4
Signs, typical for a run-down nation. No further comment necessary.
6
"It would be a dereliction of their constitutional duty to do less."
This Senate has been derelict in it's responsibility to hold Trump accountable for anything. This is just a further example of why people need to vote the Republicans out. They refuse to do their jobs. We are in the midst of a constitutional crisis and their silence is deafening. Vote them out.
11
The republican senate leaders’ conduct of restricting release of National Archive information has all the
appearance of a “coverup” of nominee Kavanaugh’s federal employment history.
This does not appear to be “due process.” Their actions hint that there must be some important political “shenanigans” that Grassley and McConnell feel the need to conceal.
The quality of the documentation supporting a Supreme Court appointment is important. The source should not be the files of a former White House lawyer when the official source by law is a chartered government agency.
Given that the papers document some of the most controversial periods of previous administrations, it should be obvious that the National Archive should be allowed to perform its fundamental government mission, namely to provide the historical record of official government actions to the Congress and to the voters.
Maybe the republican party considers the Supreme Court as just one more of their political action committees.
10
The real tragedy of this is it demonstrates that the current leadership structure, in both parties, is sending us even further down the path of self-destructive partisanship politics.
Obviously partisan politics have been around since the beginning of organized society. In most civilized, successful varying factions usually managed to hammer out agreements.
But that achieved new lows under President Obama's first term. The President alone can't destroy things, it takes a team and both the House and Senate made significant contributions which has sent us down a path of partisanship which appears to be irreversible.
I had hopes that President Trump, being an outsider, would have taken the swamp to task about this. Unfortunately he's fallen victim to the same delusions of grandeur and power that afflicts all elected officials.
1
As usual for the law and order party, the law and established legal processes only apply to other people than themselves.
If the discovery process takes until October, it takes until October. Too bad.
8
Simply more evidence that all republicans are simply traitors, politicians and voters alike.
6
Kavanagh was previously confirmed by the Senate. The request for documents by Schumer & Co. is disingenuous as Chuck stated at the start that he would oppose the nomination, so the request appears to be and is, simply busywork. No one is going to read all 1 million pages. The Merrick Garland analogy is not apt, as that was a Presidential Election year, not a mid-term election year. The Democrats are in a tough place having previously confirmed Kavanaugh, trying to justify doing a 180 and voting against him the second time around. So instead of reporting these facts, we have the NYT continuing to stir the pot.
11
“Elections have consequences.” Barack Obama.
Live with it.
6
To have your country hijacked on all levels then to see the insidious creep of the judiciary going the same way, maybe something that will take 30+ years for you to recover from. Big business already had a huge impact on decision making, but with this reprobate in power you guys may never recover.
I really hope I’m wrong and this time will be seen for the horrendous abuse of power that it is... and you right the ship. I suppose we will see at the midterms, but so much has to be fix then made better. We all seem to do better over many decades, but lasting damage over only a year or two.
5
Why is it that Republicans continue to break the "norms" and get away with it? I can only point to Congressional Democrats who seem unable to unite and move from a state of complacency. Democrats need to learn (and quick) how to be smarter, bolder, louder, and tougher.
14
And yet it appears that all this is happening just off the radar screen of the front pages of our nation's newspapers, nor is it a topic of conversation on the news networks. It appears, in other words, that they will almost certainly get away with it because no one is making a big enough stink.
NYTimes, get busy!! Somebody needs to be screaming bloody murder about this, but no one is.
6
Let the sunshine in!
Daylight is good for a nation wounded by partisan creep.
5
The Democrats just don't understand that now, Nothing Matters. Hiding a SCOTUS nominee's past? No matter. Lying from the White House? No matter. Breaking international agreements? No matter.
Giving billions to the rich? No matter.
Nothing Matters anymore because the destructive new weather we are having is the Tweet storm consuming all our headlines and editorials.
8
The GOP has become America’s Kremlin, a rubber stamp operation supporting the tyranny of right-wing nuttery. Shame, Mr. McConnell, for your acquiescence in the destruction of American exceptionalism.
We are nnow no better than a third-world banana republic, thanks to these old, tired, thoughtless sycophants.
12
If Kenneth Starr is your mentor, you are unworthy of appointment to the Supreme Court.
10
Can we please use the McConnell Rule and not confirm this guy until after the midterms?
10
The Republican game is power: heads I win, tails you lose, and hypocrisy take the foremost.
7
I'd ay the answer is pretty obvious - the GOP are a bunch of lying hypocrites who will pull every dirty trick in the book to stack the courts with their extremely regressive and unqualified judges, the very thing they accuse Dems of doing. They have no shame, no honor, and belong in the dustbin of history, ASAP.
8
A: Because Ds have announced opposition.
Pro Tip: He's written 300 opinions as Appeals Court judge. They're published!
4
what is the confusion - this is a banana republic -
4
The Democrats are up to their usual tricks--RESISTANCE. They know there is no legitimate reason to deny Kavanaugh a seat on the court--so they are engaging in delaying tactics. I suppose turnabout is fair play--after all Merrick Garland thankfully wasn't even given a hearing either.
But a word about impartiality on the court--which the Editorial Board raises as an issue: we know Merrick Garland was left of center--and therefore would have voted in lock-step unanimity with the other 4 liberals on the courts--Breyer, Sotomayor, Ginsberg and Kagan--who are certainly not unbiased interpreters of the Constitution in any way. How do we know Garland was a lefty? Simple...liberals are incensed that his nomination was blocked.
It is not the job of any judge to make up law out of whole cloth--or to substitute his or her judgments or feelings in place of legislation. But that's what the lefty justices do every day on the Supreme Court. None of them could find a copy of the Constitution, if it was tattooed on their foreheads. They see it as outdated, irrelevant, written by old white racists, and they ignore it at every turn. We did not need a 5th justice in the name of Merrick Garland, to give us more of the same.
So the Democrats will do everything they can to muddy the waters, and deny or delay Kavanaugh's eventual appointment. But they will ultimately fail--and that's a good thing. We don't need left eggheads mandating social policy for the rest of us to follow.
7
Dear NYTimes, a few days ago you published a piece calling for more support for the press. Well, if you continue to view yourself as the defenders of democracy, then have some integrity and admit that the Democrats' requests have nothing to do with reviewing Kavanaugh's judicial record and everything to do with stalling his confirmation.
8
So what are Kavanaugh and the Repubs hiding? And why should a treasonous "President" get to nominate anyone to any post let alone the Supreme Court?
9
Where did all the women in pink hats go?
5
thanks to the editorial board for those details.
as to this government: just when you thought
you've seen maybe not all but more than enough
to warrant impeachment - up comes a new perfidious trick,
a new maneuver from the handbook of multiple-standardry.
the art of twisting one's opponents' every word
into its very opposite keeps reaching new levels daily.
please keep on decoding the hypocrisy & bigotry
and hopefully, soon enough, more people will wake up
and read all the signs [not just] of the [new york] times!
5
When Elena Kagan was nominated, the White House refused to release her papers from her time in the Solicitor General's office, so this isn't the first time. Of course, Kagan hadn't served as a judge in any capacity, so she lacked a paper trail of decisions. But let's be honest--the editorial board and perhaps most of the Times' readers decided that they opposed Kavanaugh the second that Trump introduced him (if not before). Republicans likewise had decided to support him. Requesting the remaining documents isn't a sincere effort to uncover the "truth." It is an effort to find some other snippet of information to confirm existing positions.
4
This is a surprise? Grassley would sell his mother, if necessary, to remain in the Senate! Protect their traitorous President at all costs, pack the federal courts with extreme right wing ideologues, and dismantle every vestige of progressive legislation are the aims of these Trump Republicans.
5
this is not a surprise ...
it's been the new republican philosophy for some time ...
partisan politics come before any respect for our heritage as the world model as the first great liberal democracy ...
if you want to be a strict constitutionalist about it .....
1
C’mon. This guy will be on the SC. It’s a done deal. Anything else is just political theater.
If Democrats have already said they will vote No for Kavanaugh, why does any of this matter? Looks like time wasting useless theatrics.
4
Why wasn't Sen. McConnell impeached for a high crime and misdeamenous when he violated our Constitution?
6
The corruption of the current Republican Party knows no bounds.
4
Mitch McConnell will do whatever he wants to do. Who's going to stop him? No one. Unfair, undemocratic? McConnell and the GOP could care less. They will do what they want to get what they want - a very conservative judge on the Supreme Court.
The scorched earth tactics of the GOP toward their goal of taking over the judiciary in America is working because rules only apply to Democrats and unfortunately, the Democrats have not pushed back enough in the past and have little power to do so now.
It was a monumental failure of the Democrats to not bring thunder down on McConnell regarding Merrick Garland.
The frustration of many just regular citizen Democrats over our party's seeming inability to get tough grows every day. The cry that we can't lose our values and get dirty is all well and good but we are being walked over and ground into the dirt by the GOP.
They do not play fair. It's time for a change by the Democrats.
5
The question is not "Why Are Republicans Covering Up Brett Kavanaugh’s Past?" We know why. They're covering up something that might put his confirmation at risk. The headline question should be "What Are Republicans Covering Up From Brett Kavanaugh’s Past?"
12
Sadly, there is nothing that the Republicans won't do in their zeal to seat Kavanaugh. They have thrown the Constitution out the window now for several decades and they are winning. In every arena women, minorities and the poor are suffering, and lo and behold the 1% are running away with the country. Kavanaugh makes me ill. Another white man of privilege doing the devils work.
5
More editorial jibber jabber...
12 years of Appellate opinions is both sufficient, and a test of how he thinks...Move on. If this were a Democratic nominee, you'd be writing these words exactly.
4
McConnell, Grassley, Trump. Birds of a feather. Senators who lie with dogs (a term the President employs casually) rise with fleas.
It's time Democrats learn to play hardball as well.
2
In 2010 not a single document was requested nor submitted from Elena Kagan’s time as Solicitor General under President Clinton. Why? Because those documents had nothing to do with how she would rule on the Court. Her document submission was overseen by Bruce Lindsay, a friend of the Clinton’s and a colleague and friend of Justice Kagan’s.
Judge Kavanaugh’s document submission is being overseen by William Burcke, a colleague whose time overlapped with Judge Kavanaugh’s when Judge Kavanaugh was staff secretary to President Bush. The documents from his time as staff secretary are not being submitted because they play no role in how he would rule on the Court. Following precedent? Indeed.
More documents have been submitted on behalf of Judge Kavanaugh than were submitted on behalf of Justice Kagan and Justice Sotomayor combined.
The reality is that Diane Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, is facing a tough re-election bid from a more liberal candidate who has painted a picture of Ms. Feinstein as not resistant enough to President Trump, so she has jumped on Senator Shumer’s bandwagon concerning the document release. It’s all about being re-elected.
The NYT would do a lot for its credibility by stating the true facts in a complete picture rather than consistently just trying to start emotional fires. Shame on you.
5
I am shocked that you are shocked by Mitch McConnell's behavior.
When the dust settles and the distractions are gone, history will show that no one — no one — did more damage to this country and its institutions than Mitch McConnell.
9
There are only two remedies for Republican cover ups of Kavanaugh’s records: relentless use of media to ask what they’re hiding and money to the campaigns of democratic senatorial candidates who can beat a couple of Republicans.
5
To those of you stating that this request for documents by Dems is nothing but a stalling tactic to push the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings beyond the mid-term elections, and especially @ AR Clayboy in particular - Using your logic for the speedy confirmation of Mr. Kavanaugh, perhaps you’d be so kind as to enlighten us as to the merits behind the blatant stonewalling of Merrick Garland? The SCOTUS is supposed to be impartial and non-partisan. The scales of justice should only interpret the law and should clearly eschew the political dogma of ANY party or special interest. It is truly outrageous that the bright men and women being considered for the ultimate position in our nation’s judiciary have become political pawns for the inmates running the asylum know as Capitol Hill.
In the words of the most famous clown in history...SAD!
11
Our government has become a Russo-Republican criminal enterprise. It's not governance as usual.
3
Does the Republican Party have any Integrity left at all? Is it really any surprise that their leader is a pathological liar willing to undercut any Institution if he feels it serves his purposes? Trump is just a logical conclusion of a party that lost its ethical and moral bearings a long time ago.
6
If anyone still wonders whether Trump is an aberration or the result of the transformation of the Republican Party into a lawless radical cadre, we see it in the jaw dropping hypocrisy of Senators McConnell in refusing a thorough vetting of their Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh. They blocked any examination, hearings, or vote of President Obama’s pick Judge Garland. Now, they are rushing a vote for Judge Kavanaugh, and ignoring entirely legitimate requests for his past relevant writings that bear on the lifetime job of a Supreme Court Justice. What are they hiding?
No one should pretend Trump is an anomaly. The entire GOP is thoroughly corrupt and rotten to the core.
7
Senator Leahy ran into the same White House stonewalling on Kavanaugh’s record when he was named for his judgeship in 2007. The ball was dropped then and grounds were found to deny a Senate subpoena on “executive privilege.” Is it too late to stop dictatorship now?
3
Trust us. Well, yes. We trust you, Republicans, to lie to us whenever it suits you, to put party over country, to flout the law at every turn and to protect the wanna be dictator in the White House. Given the things already known about Kavanaugh, there are almost certainly pretty ugly things contained in the papers they won't release. Corker, where are you? Collins and Murkowski, what do you get out of appointing someone who will likely mean the overruling or certainly the undercutting of Roe v. Wade and the perpetuation of the ruler king? And any Democrat who votes to affirm Kavanaugh should be voted out of office as a fake.
5
Stonewalling is McConnell’s only talent.
2
Well, clearly the Republicans need to be impeached, just like Rod Rosenstein, for withholding important Justice Department documents the American people need to see! I'm sure they'll get right on that.
2
In twenty years some legislators will be telling their grandchildren that they were really RINOS.
1
The answer to this rhetorical question is simple: because they can and because the Republican Party does not care for America or Americans. It has worn loyalty to the Russian puppet in the White House, and his master
5
One million documents?
You ask "Why are Republicans Covering Up Brett Kavanaugh's Past?"
Yet you never state the obvious reason... With Kavanaugh on the court it becomes easier to legitimize Trumpism.
I thought it was the job of the press to somewhat police the truth in government. You have replaced this with the need to show that there are good people on both sides of the aisle.
I suppose when Trump finally gets his wish and closes down the NY Times, you will finally see this, but by then it will be too late. SAD!!!
2
It wouldn't make any difference to Republicans what Kavanaugh's records show. They will have him on the court, regardless. Just as they ignore what is reprehensible about Trump, they'll do the same with Kavanaugh. Or, if Democrats force the issue, Republicans will downplay anything damaging and continue to speak of this man in terms of the second coming. For some Republicans, putting Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court will be the crowning achievement of their entire careers. They will let nothing stop them. He is in the same lofty realm as Trump--he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue in New York, and Republicans would still put him on the court. They simply care for nothing but his conservative credentials.
3
More abuse of power by republicans and yes, that is a crime. No wonder they want to stack the courts with corrupt judges on the side of criminals. I hope their is a legal remedy for the democrats to demand ALL of the information the republicans are trying to hide from them and the public. We don't need a crooked justice.
3
Trump has now admitted taking actions to obstruct justice on three occasions.
The first two happened after his firing of Comey to quell the FBI investigation of Russian election meddling. He proudly confessed this to the Russian ambassador in the Oval Office and later Lester Holt in a televised interview.
The third occasion was the removal of John Brennan's security clearance as retribution for his involvement in initiating the Russia investigation. His false statement read out by Sarah H Sanders was quickly superseded by his statement directly to the Wall Street Journal.
Bill Clinton was impeached by the Republicans for lying about a consensual affair during a deposition in a civil suit. Trump has obstructed justice on multiple occasions, is a self admitted serial philanderer and sexual predator, per Giuliani incapable of testifying to the special counsel under oath without lying, and per Steve Bannon he almost certainly knew his son, his son in law, and his campaign chairman met with Russians to get 'dirt' on Hillary Clinton. Trump then knowingly dictated a false account of this meeting for release to the public.
Why on earth is this man still in office, let alone allowed to make lifetime appointments to the federal judiciary???
8
Why are Republicans covering up Kavanaugh's past?
Because the GOP has devolved into an entity primarily engaged in deceit, intellectual dishonesty and ulterior motives in order to achieve its goals.
Exhibit A: President Donald Trump, their standard-bearer who lies and deflects at a pace so rapid it defies comprehension.
Exhibit B: Sen. Mitch McConnell with his asinine rejection of President Obama and his nullification of President Obama's Constitutionally-mandated Supreme Court selection.
Exhibit C: The depraved and cowardly Republicans in Congress who ignore their responsibility to rein in America's current unhinged Executive.
5
It is the democrats who have erred by requesting an excessive amount of documents in hopes of delaying the hearings until after the midterm elections. That ploy is not going to work and the democrats know it because they now are having their meeting with Judge Kavanaugh. Hearings will be held and his nomination will be approved by the Justice Committee and the Senate. There was also the obligatory mention of Merrick Garland whose nomination was put on hold the republicans by use of the Biden Rule (funny how the NYT's always forgets to mention the Biden Rule).
3
If the parties were reversed we would be sick of republicans bringing this issue up in every interview with topic from naming a post office in Ded Gulch, New Mexico to funding the NASA budget.
From the Democrats we get...crickets.
#LearnToMessage
2
"for partisan political gain". Nah. Republicans wouldn't do that, would they? Would Democrats? The obvious irony here is that this newspaper chooses and writes stories in a style that demonstrates clearly "political gain". I'm sure Senate leaders can discern the political attack coming, just as readers can see the politics oozing from the Times.
If the Left and its cheerleader, the Press, could revert to classic journalism, Washington would not be so divided. The media collusion that we challenge everyday could contribute to a more civil government, but Nah. How would that make any money?
1
This is the GOP’s chance to destroy the social safety net and reinstitute slavery. Kavanaugh is the man to do it. Amoral ....is the theme of the new GOP.
3
Read Kavanaugh’s 300 court opinions to get a true sense of his judicial philosophy. The rest of what the dems want is just a red herring trying to protect its vulnerable senate democrats in red states. The Times know this and puts out this editorial. The echo chamber in these comments are laughable.
4
Hard to consider any candidate that would accept a nomination from a lawless, hateful and soon-to-be disgraced president.
What a stained legacy to have; suggests a total lack of character and self-respect.
2
Americans, in November ( if you still can vote )vote for a straight Democratic ballot because ,if you don't vote, you may not have this fundamental right again! Get the majority in Congress and, after having doing so, start the reconciliation of your nation.Best
4
The Democrats (the putative opposition party) should fight tooth and nail against this nominee who is likely to energetically justify our Mountebank-In-Chief's lust for more and more power
This devoted extreme conservative ideologue wrote:
"To further safeguard liberty, the framers insisted upon accountability for the exercise of executive power. The framers lodged full responsibility for the executive power in a president of the United States, who is elected by and accountable to the people.”
("Safeguard liberty", "elected by and accountable to the people." Really? Has he heard of the electoral college and the fact that the popular vote does not elect the president?)
Whether the Constitution allows indictment of a sitting president is debatable.”
( So high crimes and misdemeanors don't apply to Trump because Kavanaugh thinks he is above the system of law that normal people have to obey.)
“A president who is concerned about an ongoing criminal investigation is almost inevitably going to do a worse job as president.” (Again, the perfect justification for excusing the crimes of a president.)
PS Kanvaugh is “an unrelenting, unapologetic defender of presidential power.” (University of Texas law professor Steve Vladeck, who closely follows the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit)
5
Republicans are acting like the politburo they have no interest in democracy just power.
4
Why are you so surprised? USA is not a democracy anymore. It will keep going down the hill. As in most of dictatorship countries, your economy will go next. I just hope Canada will have enough time to redirect our trade with Asia and Europe before Trumpland fall appart. We dont want to get down the drain with you. Thanks.
2
They don’t appear to be covering up much if any at all. Politics is a rough game as played in this country. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Democrats appear to be on the losing end here.
As much as I detest what Republicans have become, there is a view is that abortion, civil rights, gay marriage, and other outrages perpetrated on their world view by science and social change, were instituted by court rulings when they might not have passed as legislation. So they feel justified in using anti-democratic tactics that were, in their view, already used against them.
1
Only one more reason this November to vote straight ticket Dem. The GOP Congress is not only ignoring a chief mandate of their job: oversight of our unfit president, they are perverting the rules (scratch that, discarding the rules) that govern our governing body.
I am furious when people say, we have the power of our vote. Do we any longer? There were overwhelming protests against repealing the ACA. Our supposed representatives have instead tried killing it by a thousand cuts. The tax bill was passed with, historically, the first time public statements from numerous GOP Congressmen that they passed this bill to continue to receive money from their donors......despite the lack of benefit to their constituencies.
Do we any longer have the power of our vote? Apparently not. In Maine we have voted for expanding Medicaid twice with majorities....our Governor holds this hostage as he does the tax surplus that would pay for it. Another state had their citizens' initiative concerning corruption in their state government voted in then negated under "emergency" rules.
Do we any longer have the power of our vote?
Our vote is our only recourse when our elected officials as per this Congress refuse to do their job. And twice in 5 elections we have seen the majority of the electorate denied their presidential candidate.
8
Only 800,000 people elected Mitch McConnell to the U.S. Senate. No one appointed him King, or Lord of the Legislature. Yet his partisan tactics on Supreme Court nominees are appalling. His gambit on Merrick Garland was clearly extra-constitutional. Now in his rush to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, he's running roughshod over established practice.
As one of the 350M Americans who did not vote for Mitch, I don't accept his partisan tactics. I'm ready to amend the constitution so that citizens, via national referendum, can remove from office the Senate Majority Leader and Speaker of the House if we don't like the job they're doing. They wield far too much power, and they are only held accountable by less than a million voters.
9
The Republican president, Senate majority and the House leadership, under a cover which pretends to protect and insure white majority control in America is simply a cover peaceful slide or rush to a Putin-like oligarchy. Those white rights organizations fail to realize that the freedom in America today for such protests will not be allowed in the new oligarchy as they are suppressed in Russia, by the Saudis and soon to be the case in Turkey and Syria. The fixing of the Supreme, Appellate and District Courts will protect the overthrow of our Constitution and help to suppress revolt. Soon, unless checked, these mad men will control our military. Watching the overthrow of the press role in America along with the clear revolutionary forces make the upcoming mid-term elections a critical turning point in what was American democracy.
3
Republican leadership is scared of facts and truths that may sink the nomination. If Brett is dirty then let the laundry be put on the line for all to review. I do "believe" we are still officially a Democracy.
3
The GOP has been bought and sold. They have no shame because they have no understanding of human ethics. They were carefully chosen for just that.
7
Not only did McConnell block Merrick Garland, but McConnell then got rid of the 60 vote threshold to confirm Supreme Court justices.
Without that, Neil Gorsuch would not have been confirmed and it will be the same with Kavanaugh.
And adding Gorsuch and Kavanaugh to John Roberts will give us more Citizens United on steroids.
History will not look kindly on McConnell.
4
Our democracy has always been imperiled by the flaw in the Constitution that allocates two Senate votes per state with no regard for population. The tail wags the dog as a tiny group of ultra rich (fleas on the tail of the dog) hold hegemony over the rest of us by manipulating less educated ("I love the poorly educated") rural voters through sophisticated psychological method in media and social outlets. An apparatus that has been waging war on democracy since Oliver North.
With such imbalance in our electoral system, the only thing left is good faith. There isn't an ounce of good faith, or backbone, in the Republican Party. Our democracy was utterly decimated by the GOPs refusal to sit Obama's nominee maintaining some semblance of balance.
It is demoralizing to be reduced to nothing more than witnesses to the gut wrenching hypocrisy of the Republican Party who, even though they have the majority, will not honor a fair deliberative process. Hypocrites, hypocrites, hypocrites.
6
Republicans do not like facts, facts interfere with Republican opinions and oppose the policies they propose.
2
What are Republicans afraid of?
That's easy ...
Answer: They're afraid of a working, lawful, deliberative democracy.
5
Lying, suppressing voters, and enabling the Trump Crime Family is working well for Republicans. Why change tactics? Patriotism? Honor? Those are empty words for Republicans, only useful for lying to voters.
In the current climate, where House Republicans have blatantly conspired with an administration of
Conspirators in Crimes Against the United States, if they have no shame in pushing their nominee for SCOTUS through without scrutiny, then there must be a consequence.
Donald Trump has 'yet' to face a single consequence for any egregious thing he's done. But in this instance -- the issue of Brett Kavanaugh -- the decent thing would be to wait until the Mueller report is published.
(I can hear the Republican laughter at the above from here. Some of that laughter is in my head full-time as they commit one outrageous dereliction of
duty after another -- with no consequence. Yet.)
Hearings for this flawed candidate must be the DMZ for the Democrats in congress. Kavanaugh lied in his prior Senate confirmations! Beyond the small fraction of the country who hold allegiance to Donald Trump and not the country they live in, let it be shown that most people who are Americans are sane and knowing; most Americans do not want this nomination to be rushed through confirmation hearings without a FULL VETTING.
The Republicans of the House, the President of the United States have gone all this time without a ramification for what they have done and are still doing. The operative word for President and House R's
is 'yet.' We must not allow Brett Kavanaugh to slither through before the boom drops on The House of Trump and the Republican House of Congress.
3
It strikes me that the GOP has the same category of problem as the Catholic Church: institutional corruption so ingrained with so many tentacles and such a culture of immoral self-serving behavior with no thought to the victims that the faithful are realizing it needs to be broken down, liquidated and rebuilt.
The party of “no-regulation” and “liberty” demonstartes why these two have become mutually exclusive in their realm. The regulations for providing documents to congress for SCOTUS nominees apparently must be written down and become a law applying to both sides of the aisle. Oh, wait, then the party in power could just change the law......
If only there were people of courage and conscience who could be trusted not to do that.......
7
It's obvious that there are no people of courage or conscience in the Republican party any as it continues to enable the Trump Crime Family. As for the Democrats, who knows? Democrats may have no spines or may already be disenfranchised by Republican and Russian voter suppression. For sure, we cannot rely on Millennial or Gen Y voters to help change things; most of them were too disengaged to vote in the 2016 presidential election. Maybe, if they could vote by text message and not have to leave home or put their phones down.
1
The Pubs aren`t looking for "Judges" they are hiring clerks. Kavanaugh and Gorsuch are both manchurian in their development, almost test tube, for one purpose to do what they have been trained to do. When one sub sect of a political philosophy has the power to control who gets selected for revue then we are no longer a democracy. Would it be acceptable if the Catholic Church or the ACLU established the list of servants, NO. Kavanagh is a political hack and will sign his name to decisions like trump his name, not because he knows why but because he knows how.
4
Garland was denied his place onthe Court and now the shoe's on the other foot w/Kavanaugh. Likable, smart, the family in tow the great mother and father stories he shared, there's really only that leetle matter of his writing about presidential power as he grew into the self he occupies. Was John Yang w/him on this? Gonzalez? Rs believe in small "g" government, but big L for leader.Or P for PRESIDENT. That's all I want to read again as have not read it enough to know the full portent of Kavanaugh's thoughts. I do know from viewing the lecutre he gave at some college/university that he's a Scalia fan, an originalist who finds sense in hewing to our Constitution as written how long ago? If we were in a musuem, a royal court, a current court in England, South Africa where judges wear wigs, would that idea of originalism seem normal, not artifical. Rs found their guy. We must wait and discover more about this thinking, for one reason. The other more serious and gravely so is the outcome of the Mueller Special Investigation. And after the elections in November, 2018. HOld on, all.
2
Why don't they release them?
2 obvious reasons:
1) There's something in them that disqualifies Kavanaugh.
2) The mass of documents is SO great that it will take past the election and through the end of the year to wade through them...and then the Democrats may WELL hold the Senate...and use McConnell's trick on Trump and Republicans: Refuse to consider the nomination until after the 2020 election, and, if Trump loses, until a Democrat is in the White House. Why not? McConnell held the Garland nomination up for a year. Why can't Democrats stretch that to 2 years?
Every other explanation out of Mr. McConnell's mouth has to be seen for what it must be: A self-serving lie, that means nothing and obfuscates his real reason.
246
This is the new Republican way of running government. They do whatever suits them at the moment, without any concern that the precedent set will work against them in the future. It is Trump's view that only his opinions at the moment matter.
2
The goal of the Republicans is to get Kavanaugh confirmed. The goal of the Democrats is to delay and obstruct that nomination as much as they can. No one on either side really cares about Kavanaugh's fitness to be a Supreme Court justice. This is all about politics and asking for documents that can't be reviewed and produced for months fits the Democrats' goal. Refusing to request those documents fits the Republicans' goal. No high mindedness on either side.
2
Sorry, but that’s a false equivalency.
The Republicans have set an arbitrary time limit and are blocking the release of documents. They had no problem delaying Obama’s nominee for almost a year. The Democrats are looking for documents pertinent to Kavanaugh’s background, as they should be. So no, both sides don’t do it.
12
Actually it’s not a false equivalency, it’s spot on. Kavanaugh has written close to 300 opinions over the last 10 years he was on the bench after having received supported from enough Democrats to be appointed. That’s more then enough material. Do you want to go back far enough to get his 4th grade book reports as well ? This is a delaying tactic in the hope the mid terms go the way the Dems want. Call it what it is.
And the Democrats were so sure that Hillary would get elected they didn’t fight hard enough for Garland.
That’s a mistake that is haunting them to this day.
3
This is part and parcel of Republican strategy: They use whatever tool or technique. They got rid of the filibuster so that Gorsuch could be affirmed, which meant that Senators representing only about 40% of the population voted for him. They use referendums, impeachment (West Virginia supreme court justices; Colorado), demand recounts and go to court refusing to concede elections when they fall short (Minnesota), yet howl the loudest if Democrats should insist on recount, even when the numbers mandate such a recount under state law (Florida 2000). They use voter suppression, gerrymandering and when that is not enough, use cold cash (Citizens United, legalized bribery, extortion) and outright election fraud (manipulating counts, purging voter rolls, ripping up registration cards, telling voters the wrong date or that they will be arrested at the polls if they have outstanding traffic violation). They talk about running out the clock (Election 2016), or racing the clock (Kavanaugh confirmation), as if voting and lawmaking were a football game instead of people’s lives.
13
Brett Kavanaugh’s CV unmistakably captures him as a Republican political operator. From his enthusiasm over Bill Clinton’s impeachment (his later about-face notwithstanding) to his connections with George W. Bush, this is not a person who can be trusted to be a neutral interpreter of the Constitution.
We must take back the Senate this year! Not only will a Democratic majority ensure that all Supreme Court nominees are thoroughly vetted, they will have the numbers to block far right Judges from spending decades on our highest court.
503
@FunkyIrishman: Yes, all judges, including Gorsuch, need to be removed as they can be considered, IMHO, illegal appointments.
@NM
Indeed, but what happens if this President (and others) are impeached and the results of the last election become clear that they were affected by a foreign power ? Is there a do over and all judges that have been put into place null and void ?
I think the Senate and judiciary (once in Democratic power) should seriously put a law into place, or even propose an Amendment to the Constitution to address this issue. (other than the simplistic 25th, which really does not) Future administrations and Democracy cannot be stolen or hijacked again.
Just a thought...
375
@FunkyIrishman In answer to this question, they could come out with clear and honest proof that Putin rigged the election for Trump. It doesn't matter though. the election results are certified. There is no such thing as decertification protocol,
In a democracy, the remedy would be impeachment, but as many Republican supporters of our President will tell you, we live in a Republic, not a democracy, and they're working hard to ease the United States's transition into the largest banana republic on the planet.
Have we forgotten something? Right now there is a lawful government investigation as to whether this president legitimately holds office due to an alleged conspiracy with a hostile foreign power.
Whether as the result of post presidency trial or impeachment, it would become clear whether or not the Trump presidency was illegitimate from the start and if proven to be so that illegitimacy would have started when he took the oath of office.
Can a president who holds office by means of fraud on the American people and a conspiracy with a hostile foreign power appoint a Supreme Court Justice with a lifetime tenure? Why would any representative democratic government allow such a person under such a serious investigation make any judicial appointments until that investigation is concluded and where the American people know the results of whether their president is a criminal who stole his office and is illegitimate?
This president is acting just like a guilty man and evidence is piling up. Which leads us to the bottom line. Can an illegitimate president nominate Judges and Justices with a life long tenure, and also can Justices who accept appointments to stolen judicial seats, which belonged to another president to fill with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, stay in office when the man who appointed him is removed from office or convicted after leaving office as being a criminal? Why would we want to reach such a question except for a political power grab?
23
The Republican-controlled Congress and Trump's fanatical base don't care about Trump's legitimacy or about fair elections. They have the power and that's what they want. No democratic norms apply anymore. We have become an authoritarian nation headed by a crime family that happens to call itself Republican.
3
To quote the prophet “elections have consequences “ Republicans are in power you have 300 decisions to study that should be enough. Being a SCJ is not a political office where you vote for people who agree with you, it’s the final legal arbiter know these people by their past decisions. This is one of the reasons the founders made them lifetime appointments. This system has worked for 230 yrs now it’s no good...please.
As to slow walking Chuck and Nancy said later they were going to do that before he was even nominated, not exactly the American way.
This editorial is a false narrative. This candidate has numerous documents available by which to judge him that are a matter of public record. The white House has already produced 200,000 documents on Kavanagh vs the 173.000 that were produced for Justice Kagan by the White House. Kavanagh has a track record of 300 opinions that are publicly available, while Justice Kagan had 0 opinions given her lack of court experience. Please do not be disingenuous.
7
Kavanaugh was nominated by a President who is possibly in cahoots with the Kremlin. Serious questions need to be asked about whether the Russians are using this opportunity to plant in our highest court a justice friendly to their interests.
9
Elections have consequences. Losers of elections whining about their loss of power is obnoxious. When they had the power the Democrats stopped Bork and almost stopped Clarence Thomas. The Democrats in the Senate opened the door when they created 51 votes instead of 60 to confirm judges. Now they have to live it.
2
@Hank
Yes, elections have consequences. So whenever you vote in Republicans, expect any dirty trick, and that's OK. Because this article is about unprecedented actions, not elections.
3
@LFK the article at best is a weak argument and justification of slow walking, you folks have to get over TDS.
This is another typically disingenuous editorial. The information sought, perhaps interesting, sheds absolutely no light on the candidate's fitness. This is merely a tactic to delay what Democrats and the NYT don't want to happen. I am sorry, but this is a democracy and what someone wrote, working at the direction of others, as part of a political job many years ago, has no bearing on fitness to be a judge. Your blind support of the left and failure to support democratic constitutional values is disappointing.
4
There are ample reasons to think that the Republicans in Senate are trying to confirm judge Kavanaugh's candidacy for the S.C.O.T.U.S. without due process.
That brings us to the question,why ?
Mainly because two crooked ranking Republicans Mr. Charles Grassley and Mitch McConnell do not want the American people to know that Judge Kavanaugh wrote the policies regarding tortures of the prisoners under George W. Bush's administration.
If given access to all the relevant documents to the ranking Senate Democrats, the American public might come to know that the current nominee for the justice in our Supreme Court was also involved in certifying the infamous illegal 'waterboarding' of the prisoners. the ones who were hauled up on an abstract basis by the Bush administration in '01 just to fill up the Guantanamo prison so that they can put wool to the eyes of the American people that these prisoners masterminded the carnage on 9/11.
So we the true Americans,including ex-CI.A. Director Mr. Brennan who lost his security clearance due to the vengeful attitude of our illegitimate president Trump and others like him who're about to loose their S.C. next, have to realize that if Mr. Kavanaugh's confirmation goes through the process without the usual process of gaining a S.C.O.T.U.S candidate's background papers that are usually provided by the National Archives, then we've to presume that we're going to have a Justice in Supreme Court who should not even be a judge in a lower court.
12
When the Democrats take control of Washington there needs to be investigations into Mitch McConnell and the Republican leadership for obstruction of justice and abuse of power.
30
"Either way, what’s the rush?"
The "rush" is to get another pro-executive power(Trump) vote on the bench before the inevitable Mueller subpoena of Trump is argued in SCOTUS.
In such a case, ideally, Kavanaugh and Gorsuch, owing their lifetime positions to Trump, should recuse themselves. They won't.
Face it, Republicans hate democracy.
16
Excellent article, and I'm sure you have convinced over a million N.Y. Times readers of it's validity.
Now we need a single Republican Senator.
15
The Republicans are nailing down every advantage they can- in the courts, with gerrymanders, in regulations, and the law, before their voter suppression dike is washed away by inevitable demographic change that will throw them into the dustbin of history. We may live with the court packing the longest, but they will inevitably lose. Then we will look back on the razor thin margins in the presidential elections of 2000 and 2016, achieved by a corrupt Supreme Court decision and then treasonous plotting with an enemy, as a unique stain on our history. If justice prevails in the end, we will see the Republican Party go the way of the Whigs, the Know Nothings, and the Dixiecrats. Good riddance to them.
7
Once again, another reason to vote these Republicans out in November.
7
What was done by the Senate to block even consideration of President Obama’s nominee for the Court, Judge Garland, was outrageous and shameful. That we of this country have come to politicizing the Court the way we have ... through “representative” government ... is harmful because the politics involved are so self-serving in the interest of power control. It’s striking that the actual bottom-line to this editorial takes us back to Judge Garland. One wonders whether its apparent resistance to Senate-consideration of Trump’s nominee for the Court, Judge Kavanaugh, isn’t more out of “payback” argument to “get even” for the Judge Garland injustice than anything else. It’s interesting: the standard call is for democracy and justice; yet what’s going on all around us is clearly about power and personal preference. This may well be the infection of Trump.
1
We tsk-tsk over Trump's outrageous over-reach in the WH, but perhaps we should consider that he following the lead of McConnell and the GOP leadership who also act as if they are the sole power in this nation. Not only have they shut out their Democratic colleagues, by doing so they have shut out the American people whom they ostensibly serve. McConnell is as vain of his privilege and as arbitrary in his decision making as Trump.
Fie on the good people of Kentucky who keep this man in power. While he may serve their prejudices, he does not serve their enlightened best interest. McConnell is an autocrat in his actions. He decided not to give Garland even the courtesy of an interview, let alone a hearing. He decided not to allow any action to fill the vacant seat on the court for months on end. He and his henchman Grassley are again appointing themselves as king-maker to the supreme court. Where is that power granted to his position in the Constitution? Advise and consent does not mean obstruct and deny.
We must rid ourselves of these men. They do not serve the good of the country. They serve themselves and their billionaire masters. They are ruining this country. Get rid of them. They a pack of ticks on the body politic.
10
Why do Republicans do this? Because they can. Actions like these are no less unethical than what the President does daily. When will this country say enough is enough?
20
The only chance we have to say enough will be in November when we vote the colluding, treasonous Republicans out of office.
2
Kavanaugh's primary qualification in the eyes of Donald Trump is too obvious: Kavanaugh does not believe a sitting president should ever be the subject of an investigation. On this basis alone, he must be discarded by the Senate. A president safe from examination and accountability, (especially this current president), has every opportunity to become a dictator should he so choose. Are there no Republicans willing to protect us from such infamy?
11
The Democrats should simply refuse to take part in this process. What the Republicans did to Gorsich, they should do to Kavanaugh.
7
Democracy dies, not in a whimper, but by a demand of the ignorant. Republicans are demanding a destruction of American Democracy. America is mediocre.
1
What does this say about Supreme Court decisions decided by a justice who is subsequently impeached for his actions before his nomination and hidden from consideration in the Senate confirmation process by the candidate or others (including effectively hiding by rushing the confirmation hearing sooner than the record can be gathered and presented to the Senate)?
Shouldn't such decisions be quashed and re-heard and president and Congress put on notice that that will happen. Or at least that the new justice must recuse himself from cases with issues in which he has a prior involvement.
And how do we know how to police such recusals without knowing the candidate's full record now - all the more reason for requiring review of the full record now.
Can't wait till he has tea with Kagan, Sotomayor, and Ginsburg. So sad.
@Alice's Restaurant...
They have lunch as a group every day that they are at the Court.
Note, too, that Antonin Scalia and Ruth Ginsberg, hardly of the same ideological stripe, were fast friends up to Scalia's death with Scalia frequently attending the opera, which both of them loved, together. The even played a couple on the stage in a scene of one production.
Also, Kavenaugh is well known in the legal social circles of Washington as he is on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.
Further, Kavenaugh's reasoning in several cases has been adopted as the standard for the Supeme Court's ruling on a number of important cases, usually by a wide majority of the justices.
Kavenaugh will fit well on the Court, and the Court will fit will with him.
2
Because he's a vile Heritage Foundation hack bent on helping Republicans reduce Americans to serfs for their owners, the Koch Brothers. That's why.
3
So often recently I've wished I had Constitutional-Attorney-on-Demand. How likely is Kavanaugh's appointment to enable Trump to stay in office for, oh, like the rest of his life? Thought number 2: We REALLY need term limits on Supreme Court judges.
4
Yes the Justices should have term limits for Service no more than 16 or 18 years
2
@Waverly Williams..
I fully agree with the term limit suggestion. It will, however need a constitutional amendment to make it happen...
Are you willing to push for one? I am.
Time to put your money where your mouth is.
As for term limits, you might want to consider that Justices Breyer and Ginsberg are prime candidates for retirement AS WELL AS for removal for having stayed to long. Only Thomas qualifies for term limits on the other side, his relative youth compared to Breyer and Ginsberg excusing him from the axe because of age.
Be careful of what you wish for. That sword has two edges one of which appears sharper than the other.
1
The republicans in Congress know full well that they are well on the way out the door. This tactic is solely to provide a means to have a stall on anything the new Democratic Congress might try to enable. It is a means of retaining power while not officially having it. It is about the most un-American thing they can do.
What they do not realize, is that what happens now will come back to bite them later.
3
Because Brett Kavanaugh is no Merrick Garland.
If only Mrs. William Jefferson Clinton has beaten Mr. Melania Knavs Trump. If only Barack Hussein Obama had not been President of the United States while black African American and the son of Confederate Alabama Addison Mitchell McConnell, Jr. was trying to make him a one term President.
MAGA?
2
@Blackmamba...
You are right, Kavenaugh is no Garland.
In his time on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, Kavenaugh has been the shining light while Garland was just another one of the justices.
The record clearly shows that Kavenaughs views have been far more acceptable to the Supreme Court than Garland's...
The nation dodged a bullet when Garland was not granted consent by the Senate.
Note, please, that the advise and consent clause in the Constitution leaves it to the Senate and their Rules to define what "advice" and "lack of consent" actually mean.
2
After the the intelligence community assassinations coupled with the Omarosa tapes and tell all book, why are no Republicans stepping up to confront the fascist threat to our Republic? Surely and at long last, this cannot continue unchecked ... unless Kavanaugh is appointed to the Supreme Court.
2
They need him on the court to help with their shameful agenda of misogyny, white supremacy, and economic enslavement.
3
Mitch McConnell with his souther white supporters are still fighting the Civil War. They still thjik that slavery should have been state decision and that the cofederacy was a private property ad state rights issue. The questio is why the orther white Republicans like Susan Colins and seators from Wisconsin and Penesylvania are goig along? Why is Jeff Flake and others are ot demanding accountabilty. McConell is a supporter white supremacist, may be eve a secret supremacist himself but these northenrners have no excuse.
2
You wonder why they even bother to conceal or evade. Mr. Kavanaugh could have membership in the Nazi party in his past and the Trump / Fox news crowd wouldn't care. They'd take it as another opportunity to teach the "politically correct liberals" a lesson. With McConnell and Trump we're in new territory: it doesn't matter, politically, what they do. And they know it.
3
The NYT Editorial Board is once again attempting to spin a tale of conspiracy where none exist. His legal decisions are all public records as is his articles. Stick to the facts and cease with the other innuendo.
6
@George, You are correct. There is no hidden adgenda at all. Trump needs Kavanaugh to shield him from criminal inquiry. McConnel needs Kavanaugh to impose a Christian ideology on the country and most importantly, to stop brown skinned people from voting. All this is well documented.
1
@George - Conspiracy - Definition - a secret plan. There is nothing secret about the Republican strategy. What the Editorial Board is doing is describing the actual behavior of Republican, not positing a conspiracy.
Fox entertainment, Brietbart, Qanon, and Alex Jones have the corner on conspiracy theory market.
1
The Starr investigation was a turning point in Republican circles. It married corrupt partisans like D'Amato with religious conservatives, who idealized Starr. It brought up Starr's stars. Intelligent, tough, well-educated lawyers don't flock this way. Federalists attract many "good enough" students, not destined for top Corporate or defense jobs. Kavanaugh's a catch.
Starr wrote how early Christians impeded Rome's decline. This touched a deep conservative nerve. They saw America on Gibbon's downward path. Starr had a new plan, modeled on Tertullian, an early mainstream Christian in Rome. A moralist, he opposed sex generally, adultery in particular. Once was enough, except sex with otherworldly species. Don't ask.
Clinton was smart, capable, adulterer. The many threads of conservatism found common cause with Starr's intent to destroy the President by damning his adultery. Kavanaugh's raised conservative Catholic, and served Starr enthusiastically, Tertullian the younger. But sexual damnation is poor strategy today. Tertullian's own wouldn't withstand modernity, Starr was undone by covering up abuse in his ranks, and leaders attacking Clinton were quite deviant.
Starr's strategy is hypocritical. Sexuality isn't partisan.
Kavanaugh survived. A career spawned by bringing a President to trial on obstruction, a civil case at that, may now be propelled by protecting Trump from the same and even more serious charges. A career started in hypocrisy culminates in it.
3
Good article
Thank you
1
We are so hosed. Generational damage.
3
Trump and his crooked GOP cronies have failed to fulfill their constitutional oaths to protect and defend this country from its enemies both foreign and domestic. Trump has openly supported Putin over our intelligence services, and is now stripping them of their security clearances to weaken our security and make us vulnerable to Russian machinations and to obstruct Justice in the Mueller investigation. His actions done publicly have revealed that he is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors. The Republicans in defending him instead of our Constitution will have their day of reckoning. In the meantime, Trump, McConnell and the other hounds from hell should have their security clearances stripped from them, and in no way, should be allowed to decide the Supreme Court nominee.
2
McConnell must go. Impeach him.
4
They know that if McCain and Collins see Kavanaugh supported Bush-era torture programs ---- and lied about it under oath to secure his position on the DC circuit court of appeals --- these Senators will give Kavanaugh's nomination a thumbs-down.
4
Why? Why? Because they can! And the Dems cant muster the troops to rebel!
Because once again the Dems are gonna lose to Mitchie-poo.
The only positive is that his legacy is gonna stink as badly as his tactics.
The original and lasting insult to the confirmation process was the refusal to even consider President Obama’s choice, Merrick Garland. The only person that should be considered, should have his papers examined, be questioned for a seat on our Supreme Court is - Merrick Garland.
For all the justifiable condemnation of Congressional Republicans for turning a blind eye to this president’s behavior, I think Democrats are sitting silent for this second helping of blatant majority denigration of a process that had challenged both parties in the past to at least appear to be impartial.
Sure, the court has always had a political element. Now, with the gloves off, all appearance of fairness gone, I blame the Democrats- where is their blatantly political response? Just as I’d like to see reporters walk out of those phony White House briefings, I’d like to see Dems, in both houses- walk out. Let the Repubs carry on, as they surely will, with their Merrick replacement.
Either the problems with this administration, this Congress are terribly serious, a threat to our system, or they’re not. So far, the Dems seem to be yawning, scratching their backsides, ho-humming....going along. Oh right- vote in November is the pathetic mantra-. Hard to say which is worse- a power-hungry majority, or a squished bug, on its back, flaying at the air. Absolutely disgusted with all of these so-called leaders!
5
@Jo Williams...
Please show us in the Constitution just how the Senate is required to provide its "advice and consent"?
Please be specific in your answer because on it rests the entire legitimacy of your argument.
Note, too, in your reply, just how the Senate is permitted to go about communicating their choice not to consent to a presidential appointment.
You are tying to elevate nothing into something relevant...which is usually called a straw man.
In this case, I would all your argument regarding Judge Garland as pure-and-utter, self-serving fantasy.
1
@The Owl-you obviously miss the point of the role of good faith in our democracy. What would you say is an acceptable time frame for considering a Supreme Court Nominee? The Republicans are hypocrites pure and simple. The proof is in their behavior.
How about a little honesty here? Democrats have vowed to do everything in their power to block Judge Kavanaugh's elevation to the Supreme Court. Their only hope for doing so is to stall his confirmation until after the midterm in the hopes they will have better numbers. Hence this silly business about wanting more documents that will inevitably be followed by wanting more time to review them. Enough!
Butt hurt since Trump was elected, Democrats have adopted this revolutionary chic "by any means necessary" approach to undermining the Trump presidency. Say anything, do anything, but never give an inch, no matter how childish or duplicitous you might appear. To the great detriment of the country, our politics have become bloodsport. It's sad to watch such sore losers behaving in this manner.
Stop stalling and confirm the man.
3
@AR Clayboy This is not only about the Supreme Court...it is about the Senate, Democrat Senators up for re-election in red states have to vote for confirmation or they are done. Not true if they get re-elected and vote no after the election.
@Hank...
The poor Democrats...Between a rock and a hard place...
And the hard place was put there by their own hand.
Harry Reid should NEVER have used the nuclear option to kill off the filibuster for court vacancies.
The rock and hard places is no one's responsibility but their own. And, it is as disingenuous as it can be for them to now complain about the situation that they find themselves in.
Not only are McConnell and Grassley the biggest hypocrites in the world; but now they seem hell bent on keeping Kavanaugh`s past hidden from view to ram through his nomination to a stacked deck of a Supreme Court for many years to come. Anyone with half a brain realizes that the past two years have been a case study of abuse of power by the G.O.P. come hell or high water; but now faced with a failing Trump presidency; and the possibility of getting punished at the polls for their myriad of failures in November; they are getting desperate to get Kavanaugh nominated before it is too late. If they had been gracious enough to give Merrick Garland a fair hearing; perhaps this would not stink quite so bad. That is obviously asking the skunk to change its stripe however. No the fix is in; like all the other G.O.P. crap these days.
10
Duh! We are trying to fill a Supreme Court Seat. We are supposed to be given information necessary to help us pick the right person. But the republicans try to block existing information they don’t want us to see. Right in front of our eyes! In our best interest! And we watch it!! We hold these truths to be self evident. And they have sworn an oath! So much for the latest congressional BS!
3
@EMW...
Gee, Just a few years ago, Congress was investigating the IRS for actions admitted to by one of its senior officials about targeting for investigation organizations for political reasons and pay-back.
Documents were demanded by Congress that were slow-walked and refused by the IRS commissioner and his functionaries. The leaker of the information plead the Fifth Amendment to avoid having to admit to criminal activities.
Where were the Democrats in all of this? Encouraging the Obama administration to obstruct any meaningful release of information pertinent to the unwarranted abuse of IRS and its processed.
If you don't like the rules of the game, then stop using the rules for your political advantage and stop complaining when your face gets slammed into your own obstructions.
1
I am not sure why they are "covering up" his past. I mean if he "stood in Times square and shot someone" would the supporters of this administration and agenda care.
Their base do not live in reality so why bother? Just announce "we have another A-hole here to protect the bigger A-holes..."
2
The usual Republican tactic. Blame Democrats for doing what Republicans do. Here, using a hypothetical to defend their actual refusal to do their constitutional duty.
4
"Why are Republicans covering up Brett Kavanaugh's past?" Because they can. Why did President Trump revoke John Brennan's security clearances? Because he can. The answer is the same for why so many congressional legislative districts are gerrymandered to virtually ensure one-party rule.
If Trump's political party can do something, it will. It will go to the extremes when necessary; from refusing access to a Supreme Court nominee's papers to declaring no nominees will be considered during an election year.
Americans can stop this abuse of power by voting. Will they?
10
Every time I see a television commercial featuring some empty vessel singing their siren song about how wonderful a person that Brett Kavanaugh is, it reminds me of just how much desperation (and fossilized hydrocarbons) that the GOP is fueled by.
Please, take your Neil Gorsuch and eat him too. But do remember that when (if?) there’s a Democrat in the White House again, there will be nothing to stop them from stacking the Court, and Mitch McConnell will not be there to save you.
4
The Supreme Court lost its credibility when it declared companies were citizens. This is in a country where even legal immigrants and citizens are losing their rights thanks to a Supreme Court ruling. Religious freedom is only for those opposing gay rights and abortion - yes - let’s see those papers - the Court can wait - the Senate blocked Presidential Obama’s choice. The Constitution is in tatters.
26
@Here, Here!! Barbara. Companies are not citizens. They live forever (oh that they would die) and legally gnaw at our rights and protections. The government (nor the press) isn't the enemy as simple people hold.
Corporations are.
@Barbarra...
Sorry, Barbarra, the ruling that corporations are to be treated like citizens is more than a century old, and it is the primary reason why you can take them to court.
It is as much a procedural ruling as it is a substantive one.
One thing the left needs to get straight re the Merrick Garland issue: Yes, McConnell stalled it. However, Let's also remember that at the time Obama had lost both the house and the senate and his popularity was around 50%, sometimes ower in the spring of 2016. There was an election in 7 months. Given that any supreme court nomination can take several months (as Kavanaugh's undoubtedly will) it made sense for McConnell to say he'll wait for the election to see who the new president is and allow them to make the nomination. That did not present in reality much of a delay -- and if HRC had won no doubt Garland would be on the SC. That didn't happen.
Currently, Republicans hold the house, senate and the majority of state governments. The request for more and more documents is simply a delaying tactic by the dems. The EB disingenuously notes that 99% of Kagan's WH records were released -- but Kagan served in a different job and for a shorter period of time.
If the dems want records outside of judicial opinions, speeches on the law, etc., they should have good reasons for asking for them. Just because Kavanaugh touched a piece of paper while working in Bush's WH doesn't mean he had anything to do with formulating or approving the policy.
4
@Ralphie:
So the Constitution says we should delay confirmation until after any pending Senate Elections as well?
3
@Tony Reardon I don't believe the constitution says anything about time frame for approving nominations.
All about political theater. Kavanaugh is more than qualified and should be confirmed. Progressives should take note of what happens in countries where their Constitution has been circumvented to allow the political class to pursue their version of social justice. Venezuela being a current example.
5
@wes evans - ...you mean the way the Republicans have circumvented the Constitution to pursue their vision of a country based on greed and special privilege for those with the correct religious views? The Republican Party is engaged in precisely the behavior you describe!
1
The Senators requesting the documents have already declared that they are voting against confirmation. What is the urgency for them to see all of these documents?
6
@RandyJ: Because WE THE PEOPLE should also see them.
How can we exercise our 2nd Amendment RIGHTS if we are misinformed about who is the oppressive government.
1
@Tony Reardon
The requested documents have nothing to do with Kavanaugh. The relevant documents are public. No need to ask.
@Tony Reardon...
Do you really expect Chuck Schumer & Co. will release any that reflect favorably on Judge Cavenaugh?
Bridges are for sale at the old Navy yard in Brooklyn. Several available. Cash only.
The initial attack on our Constitutional democracy began not with Donald Trump, but with Republican Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell. First, he ignored his oath to provide "advice and consent" on the nomination of Judge Merrick Garland by President Obama to the Supreme Court. Second, he then invoked the "nuclear option" to seat arch-conservative Neil Gorsuch on the high court with a bare majority. Now he's at it again by trying to conceal potentially damaging evidence that could derail or impede the nomination of another ultra-conservative, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, to the court. We need to know what Judge Kavanaugh's role was in the decision to allow torture when he worked in the Bush administration and other controversial policies. This is just the latest coverup that has become the hallmark of the Trump administration and their "willing accomplices" in Congress to actively aid and abet a President in undermining the Constitution. It, too, is collusion that strikes at the very heart of our democracy.
361
Thank you for pointing out the continual, brazen hypocrisy of Mitch McConnell in all of this. The man is a shameless disgrace.
When Democrats were in charge of the Senate the Republicans filibustered everything. Not just legislation but judgeships as well, causing a crisis in the judiciary. In response to this crisis, Harry Reid amended the filibuster rules so that 51 votes could get someone appointed instead of the usual 60 needed to overcome a filibuster. At the time the debate included the warning that messing with Senate rules could come back to haunt the Democrats. An opposing viewpoint was that, given the opportunity, the Republicans would not hesitate to disrupt regular order themselves. That turns out, not only to be true, but the greatest understatement of the century. I hope someday to be proud of my government again and to see it return to regular order, however, a part of me also wants retribution for the affront of Republican rule. I'm not saying I would like to add to the divisiveness but I would love to be able to just ignore their requests, concerns and advice and, when they cry foul, we can claim we are only following Republican precedence. I'd start with adding the appropriate amount of judges to the Supreme Court that would, at least, negate the stolen seat and anyone who is not properly vetted.
425
@Rick Gage
Reid eliminated the 60 vote threshold for executive appointments and lower court appointments.
Reid did this after McConnell and Republicans broke all records for filibusters.
But Reid did not remove the 60 vote threshold for the Supreme Court. McConnell did that.
And he did that on the first days of Trump.
4
@Rick Gage Absolutely. A good case can be made that by hiding Kavanaugh's work documents, he was approved under false pretenses. Then again, just use the McConnell rule: Party, cronyism, and donors above all.
2
@Rick Gage Welcome to the new normals.
1
"For the first time in modern history, Senate leaders are refusing to request a Supreme Court nominee’s relevant papers."
In the past 20 years, we've seen an awful lot of "firsts"--a SCOTUS deciding a presidency; McConnell blocking a SCOTUS appointment 11 months before a presidency is up; changing Senate rules arbitrarily; and now this.
The number of precedents shattered in just the last two years is astounding. It's a display of raw power, in keeping with Mr. Trump's own disregard for norms and rules.
There's an awful lot of ink in the papers the Democrats are requesting as Grassley and McConnell try to railroad the process and push it through before Democrats can advise and consent (or not).
The more they stonewall the papers, the more it seems as there should really be some good stuff in there that the Democrats--and the American people--deserve to know.
Particularly since the entire business of nominating and confirming justices has become as partisan as the court itself has.
Senate Republicans are hijacking our democratic process, in the same way their president is--because they can.
761
@ChristineMcM Good old boy Mitch (Coal) McConnell - the Kentucky Chicken Wonder Boy. His Machiavellian ways a trade mark long recognized. Owes some measure of fealty to General Bone Spurs due to his wifes position in the Administration. To my way of thinking, he should recuse himself from the process - won't happen. Keep up those Freedom of Information Act requests. Keep the pressure on Trumputin.
2
@ChristineMcM
We are in the middle of a coup. The Republican Party (with Democrats mostly passively whining about it, when they are not voting for Trump legislation and nominees) are clearly working against the clear meaning of the Constitution, and centralizing political power in a president who wants to be king.
They are taking power from We the People. For example, We the People have the right and responsibility to see a Supreme Court nominee's record of his public service. Keeping his actions in the Bush Administration a secret does not serve the People. It serves Republicans.
The Constitution says that Congress should tax and regulate trade to promote the general welfare.
Republicans are against taxes, against regulations, against providing for the general welfare.
Republicans are against the separation of powers, declaring loyalty to Trump the man.
Republicans are against the separation of their interpretation of the Bible from our state.
They are against needing a warrant to search or seize anything (unless you work for Trump).
Republicans think the Fourteenth Amendment gives rights to corporations, not to humans.
Republicans want to dismember the post office and sell it off for parts to global shipping corporations. Trump already had a hotel in the historic DC Post Office, and Republicans have been systematically attacking tree USPS, even though it is in the Constitution.
There is not enough space to list all of the ways they attack the Constitution
1
@ChristineMcM
On point. There have been an awful lot of precedents shattered. But, I disagree that its because Senate Republicans "can" hijack the democratic process. They only "can" IF we allow them. I believe that a strong, unified, bold, loud, tough Democratic Minority can fight back and win. Unfortunately, I've seen nothing but complacency from our Democratic Congress since the inauguration.
1
The Kavanaugh confirmation stonewalling is a melding of two agendas. Trump wants someone who will decide that he is invulnerable to the law so he is safe from all investigation into possible crimes. The GOP wants someone who will strengthen the grip of corporate money on all aspects of government, and along the way establish Christianity as the de facto national religion, enshrining its views — for instance, on abortion — into federal law.
Democrats in Congress should be united in saying that Kavanaugh's confirmation should follow the rule the GOP set in 2016: not to consider a Supreme Court justice in an election year — to quote Chuck Shumer.
Why are people not outraged at the Republicans' blatant manipulations? They used to do this kind of maneuvering behind closed doors. Now they do it right out in the open, with no shame about it at all.
If we don't vote these people out of office, we deserve what we get.
37
@pmbrig I think we are outraged. I think it is a byproduct of our geography (here me out). Were our population more concentrated geographically, it would be an easier matter to to descend on our capital, en masse. Millions of people marching in geographically remote (from D.C.) feels good, even looks good. But the impact on the governing is negligible. 10's of millions protesting on the Mall in D.C. on a continuous basis would change the equation. Alas, our geography works against us, and no amount of social media can replace the physical presence millions holding the elected accountable.
Justice is for people who have money. The rest of us merely get by, lead law-abiding lives and accept our fate as underlings peeking out from under the legs of the Colossi. To change back to a democratic republic at this point is going to take a lot more than rearranging the deck chairs. The doomsayers predicting a generation of right-wing hegemony are a generation too late. My Social Security check and good health may allow me to witness the culmination of a society based on the Four Freedoms but storm clouds are looming on the horizon. I feel for the generation now coming into their own, there is hope there but present day conditions that cause them harm could get worse under the current administration. I eagerly await the outcome of the November election.
26
Former president George W. Bush must be aching for what has happened to our country. He was by no means a perfect president. None are. But he is a good man.
Maybe it's time for him to speak up.
3
" ... he was a loyal Republican warrior ... "
These last 60 plus years, governance of the United Corporate Predatory Capitalist States of America, is regime after regime of one and the same band of like-minded warriors of the singular ideology which firmly believes, that mankind, for it's own good, be firmly ruled, with an iron fist, the same iron fist which every regime has been wielding with abandon, (oftimes hidden in a velvet glove).
The periodic, and almost as rare as hens teeth instances of give, in the relentless drive to thoroughly own and control the wealth of our nation, and subjugate its people, are instances wherein, in their rabidness, they mis-step, and cause a faint light to appear deep in the impenetrable clouds of chaff which remain deployed 24/7/365.
The successful disenfranchisement of the people, 60 years later, is due to the existence of a program(s) known as "Perception Management", (several such programs exist), so sophisticated in their thoroughness, most are unaware that their thinking and consequent actions are planned results designed to occur at the behest of the ruling class.
The Trump rule, made possible by planned fake angst at the failures of the Democratic party, was an amazing example of how perception management works, people rightly enraged at the long history of disenfranchisement, (please realize their is only one party, the rulers), were induced, as always, to re-elect their Masters, albeit with an orangey look this go-round.
4
Is there any Republican Senator, who isn't running for office, who has fidelity to our constitution and not to the Republican Party? The hypocracy embedded in the Republican Party will destroy of Republic. I wish someone would "stand up and be counted"!
3
There are no "standards" anymore. We are being governed like a banana republic. The only question is whether voters will be sufficiently bothered to do something about it.
19
The role of Democrats on the committee should be to try and crack the facade of what this man represents; what it will mean for women, the LGBTQ community, the workers of America, and so on. Oh he will try and dodge their questions. But what this should do, more than anything else, for the majority of America is cement in their minds where we are headed as a nation and that is back to a time when women, minorities, the LGBTQ community, workers, voters, the environment, etc were relegated to the back of the bus. And if that frightens you. If you find that offensive. Then you may not be able to do anything about this. But you can certainly go out and vote and at least begin the process of tapping the brakes on what they aim to do. So fight back. Register and vote.
9
we will all see these papers right after we see trumps tax returns. not holding my breath mind you.
10
At his nomination, Kavanaugh opined, "No president has ever consulted more widely or talked with more people from more backgrounds to seek input about a Supreme Court nomination.” No evidence was offered.
6
This country is no longer ruled by law, only by thuggish power. Perhaps what we need is a temporary military takeover, dismissing the executive leadership and the entire legislative branch, and calling for a quick election funded entirely by the public, with no pacs nor external funding.
At least one can dream, no?
6
The conservatives have been shirking their responsibility to their constituents and the rule of law [FOR ALL] so long that they now believe it is part and parcel, a bonafide plank of the GOP birthright. . . I can't believe all the illegalities they have been involved in over the last 34 years. Really!
1
If NY Times remains surprised at Republican tactics at this point, well, you have not been paying attention.
Democrats had their chance to try to get one of the octagenarians to retire and did not do. Now? We have what we have.
Trump, to his credit, managed to get a supreme court judge to retire early in his term so Trump can nominate whatever he wants before the mid-terms. Republicans will ram Kavanaugh in. No need for hand wringing. It is over now.
Obama was putting in place a fantastically complicated "health care" system at this point in is Presidency. Not cajoling one of the near dead bodies to retire. You get what you work for.
And so we have.
3
Is there no limit to the Republicans' assault on democracy? I have asked that question innumerable times over the last year or so, each time thinking we have reached the bottom of that barrel. Not yet, it seems. November cannot come soon enough.
21
This is but one more reason for the Dems to pack the Court as soon as they take the Presidency and control of Congress. The Republicans have weaponized the Court. The Dems cannot go back to "business as usual" with judicial nominations. That would be nothing but abject surrender.
3
They're voting against him regardless.
So, why should he give them any papers.
5
@True Observer In our Leader's words, "What do they have to lose" by delivering the papers?
The public has a right to know.
@True ObserverI want to know the why`s of it, transparency.
The first public address I heard Brett Kavanaugh make was this sycophantic signaling, with Trump in the room: “No president has ever consulted more widely, or talked with more people from more backgrounds, to seek input about a Supreme Court nomination.” The statement itself is glib, gratuitous hyperbole, and sounds like something Trump himself would have tweeted (although he would no doubt have added, No Collusion). It's either a lie ("No president ... "???), or sheer ignorance. The people deserve better than a political operator on the Supreme Court.
7
Why are the Republicans pushing Kavanaugh's hearing? Because there might be more proof that Kavanaugh believes that we have anointed a king who is above the law and not voted for a fellow citizen who is equal to us all.
And they are scared of the American people who are now seeing the perfidy of the Republicans.
2
Republicans are breaking the law to jam through a Supreme Court nominee- picked because he opposes investigating, subpeonaing, or impeaching a sitting president.
This is a very convenient position for Trump, but the Supreme Court serves We the People, not the President.
We the People cannot let a Supreme Court Justice be seated, having only 2% of his records. What are Democrats and the rest of us going to do about it? Will we just watch like we did when we let them steal Obama's?
3
Can I file a Freedom if Information Act request for Kavanaugh’s papers? Maybe me and several thousand or million citizens should make this request. Tell us how to do this and to whom we send the request. Tell us what we’re looking for. And perhaps we should start a petition to stop the nomination until the relevant disclosures are made. This is about due diligence for a nominee.
9
This one is easy. Republicans want to elimination the opposition once and for all. This battle has been brewing for some time. It came out into open conflict with the election of the Clintons and the subsequent rise of political killers who no longer wanted to work across the isle, they wanted to destroy the isle, the pews of legislation, ultimately the church of American democracy. These so called republicans want to dominate the country much like Putin has dominated Russia. They, with their dear leader, mr trump, want the so called “red wave”to stain every corner of the political establishment in this country once and for all. Brett kavanaugh is another step in the direction of what is essentially packing the Supreme Court with conservatives who will bring this country back to its apartheid roots. I say, white power now, white power forever.
1
This is not different. You just do not want him confirmed and would like to slow the process.
Rank Hypocrisy.
Kavanaugh did not drop from the sky. He has been a judge on U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C.Circuit since 2006, and was confirmed by the Senate without this truckload of documents.
The vast majority of Democratic Senators announced their opposition to Kavanvaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court almost immediately, without having to read a single document. Schumer has vowed to stop his confirmation by any means possible. These documents are not required by any "open minded Senator," assuming such creature still existed.
The purpose of this exercise is simply to cast a cloud over Kavanaugh's eventual confirmation, as the Times well knows.
1
One-sixth or 40,000 pages out of 240,00 pages is a single email? "About 40,000 pages, for example, consist of copies of a single email from Ginni Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas." Is this SNL satire?
Do Sen. Grassley's constituents in Iowa know about his leading role in this travesty? Iowa's citizens deserve to be respected by the senator they elected, at the very least. So why are Grassley, McConnell, and other Republican senators working so hard to hide this information? What important information about Kavanaugh's papers are they trying to hide? Are they laying the groundwork for senators to hide behind the "I didn't know" excuse when it's time for them to be re-elected? (Senators Heller, Collins, and Murkowsky?)
7
"Why Are Republicans Covering Up Brett Kavanaugh’s Past?" - Do we really have to ask? If the truth were to be seen and examined, they might not get the ideologue they want.
2
When are the youth of America going to wake fully to the devastation that Trump and this corrupt GOP are wreaking on their future security and freedoms? Look at national debt and deficit spending, unfounded liabilities for social safety net programs like Medicare, SS and Medicaid, failing and ignored infrastructure, abandonment of regulations for clean air and water, denial of climate change and steady erosion of consumer protections and voting rights. Add to that the failure to address a proper and just immigration policy and the abandonment of global moral and economic leadership. VOTE, VOTE, VOTE and make sure your friends and families VOTE....your future depends on it.
26
In the larger picture that is America, the fate of Brett Kavanaugh and the shenanigans of Senate Republicans are meaningless. If I’m living paycheck to paycheck, what do I care if the White House releases 200 thousand or 200 million documents. If I’m trying to figure out how to pay off my student loans 10 years after college with a baby on the way, Mitch McConnell’s theft of a Supreme Court seat does not move the needle. If my Social Security payment doesn’t stretch far enough, the thunder and lightning in the Senate cloud bank is only a show to me.
If it’s the economy, stupid, then the insider baseball of a Senate confirmation process might as well take place on the far side of the moon. I might think that all involved are lowlifes, but so’s my boss and his boss. While in reality these matters are vital for the future of the Republic, most people are busy not just living but too often trying to survive.
Perhaps it’s time to take some lessons from the Commander in Tweet. (This is a shameful recommendation, but we are past being squeamish.) If the GOP won’t release documents, there must be a cover-up. Not just embarrassing revelations or evidence of hypocrisy, but criminal activity. Leave it to them to prove the negative for once. Who knows, Kavanaugh’s complicity in torture may provide enough smoke.
If I’m busy surviving, I may still have enough bandwidth to see the smoke signals. My willingness to vote the bums out goes up a notch. That may be enough.
2
Be prepared. If the Republican majorities in either the Senate or the House are overturned in the November election Pres. Trump will scream fix or rigged.
5
I believe it is fair to say that Kavanaugh is a political hack who hides under his judicial robes. Precisely the kind of nonentity the Republicans most desire in Supreme Court nominees.
Kavanaugh was hand-picked by the Federalist Society, which keeps dossiers on compliant and mediocre judges for possible elevation to our highest court. The Society gets the bulk of its funding from the Koch boys. In effect, he has been foisted on the nation, and will do irreparable harm to millions of Americans as he toes the line of his secret benefactors.
6
"Power corrupts. And absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Lord Acton reigns supreme.
4
The question that Democrats should ask of Republicans, over and over, is “What are you afraid of?” That might create real public pressure to get at least some of the records sought. For that to happen, the question needs to be asked loudly and often.
And when Judge Kavenaugh does face the Judicary Committee, the first question that should be asked of him is, “You were nominated by the president while he was under investigation by the special prosecutor. Do you recognize that if you were to be involved in matters arising out,of that investigation it would create at least the appearance of impropriety, and will you recuse yourself from any such case if it should come before the court?” We know what the substance of then answer will be, but the precise words will be important.
15
@JJM
They should be afraid of the 2nd Amendment. But that will suddenly disappear after the Coup is complete.
Your opinion piece on Trump's monarchical performance leaves much to be desired. The author's opinion that Trump does not have the power to remove the security clearances of subordinate executive branch personnel is just wrong as clearly explained in your news piece on security clearance removal in today's NYT. Encourage the author to read it so his supposition can be cleared up.
If poor Brennan needs the security clearance for his work, there is a security check process that he can go through just like I did after changing employment.
Let's hope that the poor fellow did not actually leak classified information, because then he should be prosecuted. But the Times will probably argue that Brennan was working for the greater good, so all should be forgiven.
1
@edward smith
And they wonder why people say "fake news". Same goes for the pathetic Brennan oped. In fact, Brennan very well may face charges.
Why is anyone surprised ? Covering up for past misdeeds is what republicans do best. They have been doing it since the days of Eisenhower and the U-2 spy plane scandal, when Ike tried to tell us he knew nothing about it.
McConnell's keeping information from the congress is just playing the Trump game of anything goes as long as they "win" regardless of the consequences for the country or the rule of law or democratic decency.
I'm not sure who I despise the most McConnell or Trump, as they are both a disgrace to the country and our democratic values.
29
Why? Because they will do anything, literally anything, to win.
1
I hope he did make false statements so that he can be impeached when the country regains it’s sanity.
5
How can any “delay” be unprecedented after the Republicans in the Senate refused to even consider President Obama’s nominee?
9
You can't stop these despicable acts by the Republcans while in power. But if the Democrats win the Presidency, House, and Senate in 2020 there can be justice.
Increase the Supreme Court from 9 to 11.
6
The arc of justice must begin to turn, and soon. When there is so
much treachery, deceit and mendacity from both the executive
and legislative branches of government,history reveals that
people rise up and change the trajectory of this abuse of power.
The humiliation to our country is a national tragedy and we cannot
allow it to destroy us and our unique place in the world. We were an experiment in democracy and our forefathers gave their lives to create and build it. We cannot allow an autocratic leader to destroy
us, nor permit a sleeping republican congress to prevail.
4
There is absolutely no rationale for not providing any and all documents regarding Judge Kavanaugh.
1
@DR Jaffe. Why? The Dems aren’t even meeting with let alone voting for him. So why turn over a single piece of paper? Besides, Kagan hired him, so there you go. He’s in, baby.
1
We are in the middle of a coup. First you filll the intelligence and security services with loyalists after purges, next you pack the courts.
The black marias are on the way.
See Venezuela for the fine points.
I encounter strangers every single day and ask have you made sure that others in your circle in other states are registered to vote, and have you told them to show up. I then excuse myself to them for my street preaching.
And why is the Times not covering the impeachment trial of the entire West Virginia Supreme court, lead by a republican Governor and legislative bodies. ?
2
I can sum up Republicans' governing strategy in five words: I'm OK, you're not OK.
3
This is only new and unusual 'in modern history'. Welcome back to the 18th century!
1
Not being a lawyer, I can't comment on Kavanaugh's legal qualifications. But I am much concerned by his religion, and fear that his zealotry would be expressed on the bench. Born into a Catholic community, and having been a faithful member of the Church for decades, I know two important sides of being religious. There is the private, personal religion, to which we apply terms like holy and pious, the kind of religion that minds its own business. My parents were in that category. Then, there is the religion that drives its followers to want to mind everyone else's business. We see this in anti-abortion zealots. We know well the arguments they make about the "unborn," but see their common attitude to the "born," particularly those with un-white skin. They fume and rant about Sharia Law but have no qualms about imposing their own law. Ireland is still struggling with the influence of such oppressive religion: one serious effect is to perpetuate a kind of moral infancy, or alternatively, a rejection of ethics and morality. Imagine a SCOTUS as an arm of the Roman Curia coupled with a White House run like a sleazy casino!
15
Secret meetings on tax cuts, hurrying in confirmation hearings, coziness with Russia, removal of security clearance are all undemocratic and antithetical to transparent government. Senator McConnell lives in a dreamworld over which he presides without any checks. His extreme disrespectful behavior was clear to all in his treatment of Judge Garland and President Obama. The American People will get those papers.
3
The Editorial Board loses its credibility when it claims that 7 million Kavanaugh documents must be reviewed.This claim is not reasonable or practical but is intended to be obstructionist.
Instead, just declare that the Editorial Board will oppose any and every Trump nominee regardless of their qualifications.
The persistent claim that the Judge Garland resistance was an outrageous political act is hypocritical since if a Republican president had been in office in 2016 and nominated a Supreme Court justice , a Democrat controlled Congress would never have confirmed him or her.
Credibility is an asset that should be protected not squandered.
8
@jck
The Editorial Board hardly loses its credibility when writing about facts.
The man in the Oval and his base - believing his more than 4000 lies since in office - have lost all credibility. Trump and his supporters' memory is AWOL.
You must have forgotten that as of the mid-term election in 2014, Republicans became the majority in both houses of Congress.
No ifs and buts here, since you are based your comment on a hypothesis.
2
Maybe not , but there would have been hearings!
@jck... Great comment. I only read NY T for laughs. But... I l live in Fly Over country.
It’s likely that good judge Brett lied in his court of appeals confirmation hearings about his role in advising on Dubya’s torture policy.
Apparently we won’t find out till after he’s confirmed.
Two thoughts;
It looks like another criminal actor will be installed at the highest levels of government thanks to Trumpo and his feckless unprincipled sycophants in the Senate,
When the Dems are inevitably back in control of the Senate and Presidency, the same GOP architecture used for denying Garland his rightful place on the Court, and concealing a given nominees thoughts and actions prior to nomination like we’re see with Kav can be turned on the GOP.
In politics what goes around always comes around.
2
This is a game being played by politicians for their own benefit. The American citizenry is being forced into one of two molds shaped by political operatives who are the only beneficiaries.
It isn't Mr Trump, who in fact is a bit player on this stage, rather the writers and producers who remain hidden behind the curtains in the wings.
Our nation is being marginalized by the descendents of racists who are using the same tools of reactionary religious belief they have carried since they left the shores of Europe in the fifteenth century.
Our kids better wake up to the fact they are being burdened with a debt well beyond the monetary one now being saddled by old tired men. I don't envy the world we are leaving them.
2
This is a desperate attempt to try and slow down his appointment by scared Liberals and not a Republican coverup. He was vetted when he was last appointed and served without uproar for 10 years producing close to 300 opinions. That and his impeccable credentials are enough material to review. More is not needed. Move on.
Why?...because the Republicans are corrupt and are desperate to hold on to power. And a politicized right wing Supreme Court is their only way to do so going forward into the future.
They know that gerrymandering cases are coming up and if found unconstitutional the GOP will loose power through the country.
They are essentially a minority party who managed to rig it so they win elections. They have deep pockets with the robber barons who think they own this nation.
2
The only reason the Democrats are asking for millions of non-relevant documents form the Bush administration is obstruction. End of story.
Grassley and others have allegedly said that this is “the most transparent confirmation process of all time”: https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/senate-democrats-ready-sue-kavana... . What does that sort of deceptive phrasing suggest? Who does that sound like?
Will the Democrats really sue the National Archives? They may be given little other choice: https://www.npr.org/2018/08/16/639362460/senate-democrats-threaten-lawsu... .
7
Seems to me that any nominee with the requisite fair-mindedness, integrity, and deference to law and precedent that a Supreme Court Justice should possess would refuse to be party to this charade. The fact that Judge Kavanaugh is not objecting is disqualifying on its face.
2
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Republicans control the executive and legislative branches, and they are one justice away from controlling the judicial branch.
They will not let fair play or precedent stand in the way. They will confirm Kavanaugh and will do so before election day to show the Republican base they are working for them.
With dishonesty and self-interest the central themes, Trump and the GOP have effected a coup. If they are not stopped by a Democratic wave in November, it may be too late.
If not stopped, expect Trump to shift his mantra from "enemies of the people" to "crimes against the state" and to start finding ways to lock up his enemies.
He will fire Sessions and Rosenstein and Mueller and end the Special Counsel Investigation and seal all its files (or destroy them). A Republican Congress will not stop him.
If my predictions seem exaggerated, simply ask yourself whether Trump has shown any ability to moderate his behavior when there is no harm to come to him by failing to moderate himself. Trump is a voracious, self-gratifying narcissist. He is insatiable in all his self indulgence. He wants it all, and he wants it now.
He must be stopped. We do not want some day to have to look at ourselves as did post-World War II Germany and ask, "How did we let this happen"?
3
Translation:
Democrats are still mad about Garland.
There are more than enough documents to weigh Mr. Kavanaugh's judicial temperament and substantially more than either of Mr. Obama's nominees.
Of course the Democrats are stalling in the hopes they will capture the Senate in the midterm election.
They aren't going to vote for him anyway regardless of any additional documents provided.
Seriously folks, you could do better than regurgitating Schumer's facile talking points by presenting substantive arguments on where you might disagree with the nominee based upon his judicial record.
1
Time for the Democrats to exercise a "nuclear option" of their own. Article I, section 5 of the Constitution requires that a quorum (51 senators) be present for the Senate to conduct business. With Mr McCain too ill to travel to Washington, DC, the Democrats should refuse to enter the Senate Chamber for a vote on Kavanaugh, should it come to the floor. No quorum, no vote, no illegitimate Supreme Court appointment (as was the Gorsuch "appointment" after the Republicans refused to hold hearings or vote on Merrit Garland). It's time to fight fire with fire at long last, Mr Schumer.
4
The media helped get us to this point over the last couple of decades.
As the Republicans played “heads I win, tails you lose” politics with the largely hapless and feckless Democrats, many political reporters and opinion writers dealt in false equivalence or simply acting as stenographers for the endless parade of Republican apologists and operatives that are endemic inside the beltway. I read or heard “both sides do it” so much I wanted to vomit and I am an independent voter.
Instead of calling out the Republicans increasingly bad behavior out, they went along and only grew a backbone after grifter Donald Trump beat their favored grifter (Hillary Clinton). The GOP has been gutting our government and selling the heirloom china for decades and the supposedly watchdog media is a little late to the game.
The GOP has become more brazen as time has passed and yet the under-informed, uninformed and willfully blind populace keeps parroting the meme “they both do it” they learned from our commercial media. The Democrats are guilty of misdemeanors, but the Republicans are guilty of far worse and do not care.
The final sentence, “We don’t recall Republicans expressing concern over delaying a confirmation when they were blocking Judge Merrick Garland.”, could have been completed: ‘by closing their eyes to and in the end ignoring a known qualified candidate.’
Mind you, adding to my earlier comment, if published, the reality of the mass ignorance of "we the people", is pitiful, and the odd instance of awareness which surfaces from time to time, is so inconsequential, that our Masters, while necessarily ever watchful for sustainable organized dissent, they giggle at our pitiful efforts to resist.
2
Question: Which senators will read all these documents?
Answer: Not a darn one of them.
When things like this are being perpitrated by the Republicans it is very hard not to despise each one of those responsible. McConnel I have come to regard as equally dangerous and despicable as our faux-president. Speaking of whom, from what we've already learned about Russian interference in the 2016 election, the Dems ought to pursue an annulment of the results and another election.
2
Why did the GOP hold up Merrick Garland?
What is the difference here?
1
“[Y]ou might think it would be hard for Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader...to inflict any more damage on the court.” No! There’s no depth to which Mitch McConnell is incapable of stooping. He is a snake in the grass and the clown show going on above is a very useful distraction for which, I’m sure, he’s most grateful. He doesn’t even stand up when called out: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/27/us/politics/elaine-chao-protesters-mi...
Do I have McConnell Derangement Syndrome? No, I'm just telling it like it is.
The Republican's political manipulations aren't new. In fact they reflect the crass political partisanship which has defined judicial appointments since The Founding.
In 1801 President John Adams tried to pack the judiciary by appointing 16 Federalist circuit judges and 42 Federalist justices who became known as the "Midnight Judges." After becoming Secretary of State, James Madison refused to deliver the commissions. William Marbury, sued [Marbury v. Madison] for delivery of his commission, the famous case in which Chief Justice Marshal, AN ADAMS APPOINTEE, held that the Court is the final arbiter of the Constitution.
In 1937, his legislation stymied by the Court, Franklin Roosevelt proposed his "court packing plan," offering retirement at full pay for all members over 70. If a justice refused, an “assistant” with full voting rights would be appointed, ensuring him a liberal majority. The plan died in Congress when, recognizing that the addition of new members would dilute their individual power, Justice Owen Roberts changed tack and began supporting the FDR agenda, a self serving tactic known now as, "the switch in time that saved nine."
"Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s supporters have spent the last month lavishing him with acclaim. He’s a legal superstar, they say, one of the most qualified Supreme Court nominees in history. So why are Senate Republicans so afraid of letting Americans learn more about him?" It's pretty simple. He is not a superstar, but rather a right wing ideologue who will vote to roll back the hard won civil rights victories the Court has granted women, African Americans and gay people the last 50 years. Rachel Maddow recently unearthed a tape of him defending Scalia's dissents in an abortion case and the gay marriage decision. Stay tuned. He will soon be able to vote those rights away. Thanks, GOP. Go rot somewhere.
1
"Have you not left no sense of decency, sir?", is a question directed this time not to Vicious McCarthy but to despicable McConnell (and his minions, including Trump and Grassley). On the other hand, why should we expect from demagogues something they so obviously lack, self-respect; and what they are so adorned with, disregard for justice?
1
Oh come on. Relevant papers, before he was even a judge? Why don’t the democrats request his 7th grade term papers to see if he had a bias against reproductive rights back then?
What’s good for the goose...
I guess the “Kagan rule” applies. Thanks, Harry Reid!
Brett Kavanaugh will be the next SC Justice. Trump is filling the federal judiciary with conservative judges.
Think the left is angry? Wait until Trump appoints Ginsberg’s replacement.
3
@Cjmesq0. Goldberg's replacement !!! Woo hoo.! Look out Canada. Here comes.... Who were all those folks who were leaving in 2016?
2
@Cjmesq0
Wait until these conservative judges strip away all your constitutional rights, then who will be angry?
1
The Times keeps asking these "why?" questions over and over again about various abuses of government processes -- and democracy itself -- as if you're "shocked, simply shocked."
Isn't the answer obvious by now? They're doing these things because they're after power and don't give a fig about democracy or the rule of law. And because they keep getting away with it.
Wake up and smell the coffee! It "happened here" too! "It" being the fall of the rule of law, democracy, and a rule "by the people, for the people"!
1
Grassley. McConnell. The whole bunch of them. Traitors repeatedly subverting the Constitution, nothing more, nothing less. When does the Times think it’s appropriate to say so? When, in God’s name, is it time to light a fire to force these despicable frauds to either defend themselves or, making their point even more strongly, walk away to show they don’t care one way or the other. The republic is at stake. We’re running out of time, if in fact the clock has not already run out. There is a good argument to be made, and it has virtually been made by Timothy Snyder among others, that the clock ran out a good while ago. Does the Times simply think it’s too late to speak? Here is a thought: it’s never too late.
1
The scales of justice balance on written law and judicial opinion. For the eyes of justice to be blindfolded, we demand there must be a brain in the head. To withhold Kavanaugh's written history of opinion from the fair light of senate review throws the balance askew, makes all its advice useless, and hands the weight of its consent to endless doubt and question.
Just another indication that democracy officially died on 11/6/2016 and a satanic entity straight from an Ira Levin novel took the executive office to new depths. We have no more rule of law in the United States. It's now governed by an evil entity that has an ultra-destructive agenda.
Maybe it’s because they aren’t relevant and the Dems are just using it to drag out the process.
This is nothing more than an extended fishing session. In an unhinged attempt to derail the confirmation the Dems and their running-dog lackeys - the Editorial Board want access to documents that have nothing to do with Kavanaugh’s legal career and legal thinking.
The pursuit has nothing to do with clarification but rather a snipe hunt for one ill-chosen turn of phrase that they can trumpet 'a-ha'.
Block him if you can - but if you can't - don't simply engage in smear games - win some more elections than you have done in the past decade.
Chuck and Nancy better figure out how to derail this nominee or they’re done.
13
@Mark
Mitch and Chuck better not put forth this nominee or they're done.
@Mark:
Along with the honest citizens majority of the USA.
"Why are Republicans covering up Brett Kavanaugh's past?"
Republicans are anti-democratic zealots committed to controlling all branches of government by subverting the constitution.
In other words...who's gonna stop them?
Republican voters should be outraged at the conduct of the Republican leadership! Their continued support of Republican lawmakers and candidates exposes their own treasonous bent.
The sorry truth of the matter is that Republicans are unAmerican.
2
If the Democrats cant come up with a way to stall this nomination past the midterms (after what happened to Garland) I will vote only Green party the rest of my life.
Time for some chutzpah, Sen Schumer.
Anything to overturn Roe v Wade, any opportunity to take, Republicans will take it. After, they voted for Trump.
NOTHING ELSE MATTERS.
Want an opinion of Kavanaugh? Simply ask SCJ Elena Kagan. She hired him when she was Dean of Harvard Law School.
10
@Jonathan Brookes
What's your point? That you read his Wikipedia page? What's a private sector job got to do with his judicial philosophy?
Try harder.
@trblmkr,
Perhaps you should try harder. It's hard to get more information on someone's judicial philosophy than his 300 opinions. An appointment at HLS is hardly the anodyne "private sector job" you dismiss out of hand. Neither is a WH job. But while these positions may relate to competence and professionalism, and even expertise regarding our legal institutions, they don't hold a candle to actual written decisions while sitting as a federal judge.
@trblmkr...
The point is that Kavenaugh was view by Kagan, then head of Harvard Law School, as being an influential justice and a good teacher for the aspiring law graduates at arguably the best law school in the country.
Note, too, that Kavenaugh's views on several constitutional issues have been adopted as precedent by the Supreme Court.
Kavenaugh is well qualified to take Kennedy's seat.
Democrats will seriously hurt themselves with all but their base if their objections to Kavenaugh are view to be unreasonable.
And, they are getting very close to that with their current posture since Kavenaugh has a fairly substantial body of work as a sitting judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the court that hears most of the cases that involve government activities.
Perhaps most obscene about rushing to seat him before the November elections after the Garland theft is the fact that Justice Kavanaugh may have to rule on aspects of the Special Prosecutor’s case against Donald Trump
3
Stop writing about Trump and start about McConnell he’s the real problem and his past 15 years need to be investigated.
1
Please, journalists, turn your gaze to Mitch McConnell. Make haste, for all our sake - I bet there's a lot hiding under that rock. We need to be free of his obstruction.
1
If confirmed to the court, Kavanaugh's tenure like that of Gorsuch, will ever be tainted by McConnell's treatment of Merrick Garland, and all of his pronouncements from the highest bench, like all of those from Gorsuch, rightfully regarded as suspect; fruit of the poisonous tree.
24
. In 2009, Kavanaugh authored an opinion in favor of the pro-choice organization Emily’s List. He ruled that their challenges to certain campaign finance laws were appropriate and he struck down the restrictions, helping Emily’s list to participate in the campaign as it intended. There is nary a mention of this case in the liberal media. Are you sure it is only the Republicans that are trying to keep you in the dark?
The reason they are stonewalling is simple. Releasing the documents would push the confirmation past the coming elections where the GOP might lose control of the senate.
1
Why? Because it can.
The GOP is exercising raw power, without regard for democratic traditions and protocols, to maintain control of the government. The people don't want the GOP or its radical, plutocratic agenda. It holds the Whitehouse and both Houses of Congress despite the fact that a majority or plurality of American voters have voted for Democrats for the the presidency, House, and Senate. With popular support shtinking, the GOP turns to gerrymandering, voter suppression, union busting, court packing, and, perhaps, foreign interference with our elections. The GOP is even pushing for a return to the days when senators were not elected by popular vote, but appointed by state legislatures. Packing the Supreme Court with ideologues who will advance their agenda makes perfect sense for a minority party fighting to maintain power by any means necessary.
Make no mistake, our democracy is on the precipice.
2
Let's just let Mitch have his way.
The court is well on its way to being politicized. Citizens United reflects the best legal thinking since Dread Scott and Plessy v Ferguson. Let's let Roberts lead the court in the the shadow of the irrelevant - because if a majority of the people view it as politicized and not reflective of representative of their lives, but only of the organ of well entrenched financial and political self-interest, they may very well begin to ignore it while it begins setting forth a generation of unsound thinking and logic that hopefully my grandkids generation will begin to repeal and over turn. Should we not be annexed into China or Russia or Venezuela by that time.
1
Like John Roberts Jr, Thomas, Kennedy, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh is all for Citizens United, purging voters and corporations are people. Our democracy is dying thanks to the men listed. Nothing good has happened after these men equated money to free speech. More and more voters are coming to the realization that decisions of the powerful are not in the best interests of the common good or "we the people".
4
Given Republicans made a disgraceful move 2 years ago to block the Democrats' nomination of Judge Garland, this new round of bullying is damaging to the democratic process for review of high court nominations.
It feels like yet another slow rolling coup d'etat to refuse to share documents for a fair process. And an affront to the rule of law by preventing a full review by the Senate.
This on the heels of a Republicans virtually silent or welcoming President Trump effective suppression of former high level intelligence chiefs by removing their security clearances.
In effect tampering with agency witnesses who know quite about the Trump-Russia investigation. This also reminds us of the strongman raid the Trump administration did on his New York's doctor's office to remove all information on his medical records.
All constitute unacceptable--and even frightening-- power moves in a democracy. Thank you for this important editorial.
5
Anything wrong? So many American voters chose that Reality Show real estate guy into the White House who is supported by the vast majority of Republicans. So, whether we like it or not, that guy in the White House has been given the legitimate power to give an instant joy to his supporters.
The nation deserves this as the democratic choice, doesn’t it? The nation is now driven by dark sides of ourselves. Let’s hope some time in the next century after devastating blows to the world, brighter sides of ourselves would lead the US.
4
Why?
I asked a Republican friend why he was voting for trump? He answered that the only reason he was voting for trump was because of the Supreme Court.
We’re seeing what happens when the house, the senate, and the presidency are all controlled by one party.
And we call this democracy because the American people voted to put these people in office.
“The best democracy money can buy”
No wonder republicans want to give business free reign.
12
By delaying, the Senate refused to exercise its constitutional duty to offer advice and consent in the Merrick nomination. By accelerating, the Senate is again doing the same thing, resulting in another cloud over both the Senate and the Court.
Judge Kavanaugh has written extensively regarding presidential subpoenas, indictments, and impeachments -- issues that are likely to come before the Supreme Court. The Senate must determine which, if any issues, will require a Kavanaugh recusal.
9
My understanding is that the dems are asking for every document Kavanaugh may have touched in his public life -- regardless of whether he had any input -- in a clear attempt to stall the confirmation. His legal decisions and opinions are fair game. But asking for every document that ever passed through his hands is political gamesmanship. Of course I don't expect the EB to provide any accuracy on what is going on. Their credibility when it comes to partisan issues is non existent.
8
@Ralphie , did you even read this?
"...99 percent of Justice Kagan’s White House record was made public before her hearing. For Judge Kavanaugh, the proportion is around 2 percent. "
1
@Ralphie thank you for saying what must be said and repeated over and over.
@Ralphie
Read the article again, if you even read it as it contradicts everything you are saying
Another example of the most serious blight in our increasingly undemocratic democracy: the steady erosion of once-accepted rules and procedures that enabled our common government to function more or less effectively. It can be traced back to McCarthyism, followed by Watergate, Reagan's demonizing of "big government," Iran-Contra, Gingrich's shutdown, the misinformation doled out by Bush II and his minders, the stonewalling over Garland, and now, of course, Trump's brazen assault on the once-sacred notion that we are a nation governed by laws. These are all the doings of a Republican Party determined to rule by a tribal oligarchy that will serve their interests above all. There is not even a fig leaf of bipartisanship, a pretense of listening to other voices that might question the GOP's authoritarian behavior. The saddest fact of all is that millions of Americans seem to prefer it this way, having abandoned the idea of freedom from tyranny on which this nation was founded.
34
Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation was a fait accompli at the time his nomination was announced. The documents are not needed and in fact, the confirmation hearings are themselves superfluous and wholly unnecessary.
The election of Donald Trump ensured conservative control of the Supreme Court for a generation. There is nothing Democrats can do to change this, and they would do well to concentrate their efforts elsewhere.
I suggest trying to win back a few state legislatures or statehouses - the overwhelming majority of which are (and have been for several years now) in GOP hands. Success in that may enable the Democrats to take control of the Congress at the first opportunity. That will be in 2022, mid-way through Trump's second term and at the height of the next GOP depression.
9
The only thing that will save this country is no second term for Trump. He's not a President, he's a charlatan, dishonest as the day is long, and very much like a mobster.
Anyone who voted for Republicans in Congress to provide fair, honest and open government was confused. They only care about winning so that they can force their views of governance onto all of us, and they don't care what they have to do to accomplish that.
I say that we wait until after the next election before seating anyone on the Supreme Court - you know, so that the people can have their say.
31
Comments like this never fail to amuse. It’s “forcing governance” when it’s the opposition doing it: it’s “will of the people” when it’s your side.
1
@Jim Dickinson The people HAVE HAD their say in 2016. Democrats seem only to accept election results when the win and not when they lose.
Republican behavior is quite consistent with a near-panicked race to get someone on the Court who will reliably protect the President from criminal accountability while they still can. No one knows what could happen in November.
52
It should be evident to anyone watching by now that Republican's interests have little to do with the welfare of the country. Especially since they are doing everything in their power to maintain control by subverting it by devious means; whether it's by expunging voter registration logs, gerrymandering election districts, or simply doing nothing.
It should also be evident by now that anything associated with this present administration must somehow be tainted.
Hence the need for the type of allegiance to secrecy that is embodied by this president.
That's why it should come as no surprise that Republicans are now circling the wagons around Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh -- just like they did when it came to blocking the nomination of Judge Merrick Garland.
And if by not making Mr. Kavanaugh's past come to light by blocking access to all his papers is considered a miscarriage of justice, this too should surprise no one.
Because that has been the entire mode of operation of the Trump White House so far, and it seems very unlikely to change.
Something to remember, come November.
38
What’s the alternative when the Dems are the face of not only the Clinton dynasty bit Bernie and his bros as well as Ocasio-Cortez and her anti-business cohort. As bad as Trump is, no thanks.
1
@From Where I Sit
Now all you have to do is explain: How and Why? -- with facts, please.
The problem is that the Democrats in the Senate don’t have courage. They are trembling with fear, afraid to do whatever they can to halt the process until after the midterms.
If a political opposition is this frightened, we’re back to 2003 before the Iraq War vote.
15
The problem that most Americans don’t seem to recognize is we’re about to enter a real danger zone that will determine the political future of the United States for many years to come. The word “Failsafe” is understandable regarding nuclear proliferation and how hitting the so-called button could destroy the planet, yet in many ways, what is happening with the court is even more dangerous. The Supreme Court was supposed to be made up of the best legal and FAIR minds of the citizens of The United States. Yes, it’s always been about Liberal versus Conservative, but now, it’s totally political. It’s out of balance and that’s not going to change for several generations regardless of who’s in office.
33
@Eric Cosh
It's too late.
Our Predatory Capitalist government has layed its Golden Egg, placed it in the White House, and for the past nearly two years, has been laying clutches of additional golden eggs, albeit smaller, but more dangerous, and the result is precisely what we have now, which is "Government of the People, by the Corporate Capitalist Owners of the United Capitalist States of America, for the Corporate Capitalist Owners of the United States of America".
What is not widely known, although many are now suspecting, this American corporate owned government is just one arm of the not at all "new" world order.
The entire capitalist community of nations are together engaged in solidifying their control of the wealth of the planet, and subjugation of the people.
My advice is to tend to your own economic condition, remain alert, awake, and ever watchful, because this monster is never sated, and you could be an h'ordouvre.
@Eric Cosh And who started Borking? Not the Republicans. And who threatened to "PACK" the Court during the Depression? The record is clear about which Party has traditionally and proudly stacked the Court. And the people behind the paper of record defend the process when the Dems do it.
On another matter, I have noticed when the NYT has some left winger with peculiar ideas that basically cannot be defended, it does not provide opportunity for commentary because it knows that these opionion pieces are laughable.
An acquaintance, who is as left-leaning as they come, blames the politicization squarely at the feet of the Democratic Party for the way they treated Robert Bork. Just sayin’.
I fail to understand why the NY Times would not expect anything else from the Republicans in the Senate? These people are uncivil in their duty, derelict in their attitude, and conniving about everything. It is shameful, disrespectful, and awful. Again, what would you expect?
70
@Stephen Kurtz Insightful comment. Their desire to push through the Supreme Court nomination may also explain the deafening silence of the Republicans in Congress on the many issues that have come out of the White House in the last two weeks. The last thing they want to happen is for their nominee to be torpedoed by a president who may perceive any comment they make as an umbrage.
4
Thanks for this Editorial. You are right to question this Republican party activity that is the latest in a long history of policies against the public interest. I learned the hard way after coming to Washington in 1966 as a Goldwater Republican to join the U.S. Public Health Service to work on air pollution control that I was wrong to be a Republican. I have documented my awakening to Republican policies at https://www.legalreader.com/republican-racketeers-violent-policies/
27
The issue is the precedent of not providing complete documentation for full consideration. Yet again the GOP is undercutting the fair, full duty of the legislative branch.
49
I think there is a lot of confusuion on the document request. This editorial writer has conflated two sets of documents. One set has to do with things the judge has done or initiated. Those are fair game and the committee has those. Then there are papers in which he was a “processor”. Things like court filings etc where a lawyer would have prepared papers on the behalf of their client (who was the POTUS at the time) and in those instances his job and work are directed by the employer. Those documents have nothing to do with what the lawyer thought.
It was his duty and job to give the paying customer what they want. Thinking any differently would be like keeping others that are already on the court off of the court because they defended a client in the past that was actually guilty of something and blaming them for getting them off and then saying they approved of such a crime because they did.
15
@J: Right. So why not let the National Archives staff do their job and winnow out the relevant material? There's only one reason: there's stuff there that is actually relevant that the Republicans don't want any one to see.
1
@J Sorry Charlie but your argument does not hold water. Kavanaugh"s work for the federal government and the American people is not some proprietary corporate work product. His thinking and recommendations about warrantless searches and torture and more are certainly germane, especially because Kavanaugh was an ardent warrior for the Republican party. It is absurd to think that he was a neutral agent only responding to client requests. Cough up the documents, Mitch.
2
@J Sorry, but that doesn't fly. The argument is that Kavanaugh, as the staff secretary, was merely a “traffic cop” for documents and memos going in and out of the Oval Office. But Kavanugh himself says about this that " my three ally my three years as staff secretary for President George W. Bush were the most interesting and formative for me." We're talking a lifetime appointment, and it would be nice, in a democracy, for our representatives to find out what the foundation for this man's thinking is.
If it includes being on board with torture, for example, is that what we want in a Supreme Court Judge?
I won't even touch abortion. We're obviously headed back to the Middle Ages on that one, which pleases right-wing men no end.
The Republicans stalled on Merrick Garland for eight months to wait for an election.How about the Republicans waiting for four months since they established this ( wait for election) rule.Since Mr.Kavanaugh will answer no questions at the hearing the only way to vet this man for a lifetime appointment is through his extensive body of work.This contemptible rush to push through a nominee demeans the Senate and casts doubt on the Justice System.
102
@Janet Michael
It is impossible to demean the Senate more than Mitch McConnell has already.
2
@Janet Michael
The Democrats did pretty much nothing to fight it when the Garland seat was stolen. Will they show any backbone this time?
More likely Democrats will vote for him, like they voted for a known torturer to be head of CIA.
The party that represents the rich, acts like a bunch of lawless bullies.
The party that is supposed to represent the rest of us acts like a ninety pound weakling cowering in fear while the bully steals our girlfriend.
The Republicans have used every loophole to strengthen their political advantage. That stretches from extreme gerrymandering to unintended use of powers, stacking the courts and the very odd interpretation of some laws. It may not be nice but it's the American way. Win at any cost. It's clear Democrats must do the same or lose. Neither side can beat a stacked deck. Amoral politics will tear the country apart. That looks like happening sooner rather than later.
36
It’s getting worse, isn’t it? Many of us thought that Trump would be bad news, but, did anyone realize just how craven the entire Republican Congress is?
I did not. I had thought that there were a few who put Country first. I was wrong. There is not a single Republican member of Congress who deserves to hold his/her seat.
There IS a “deep state”....the Republican Congress.
245
The Republicans don’t care, they got their thirty pieces of silver.
The party of Judas
And this is why Trump is not the only one who needs to go. The Republicans - every one of whom has marched lockstep to put him where he is - also need to go.
VOTE.
176
The Republicans want to destroy the independence of the Supreme Court and make it a partisan entity to serve their political agenda and their corporate and religious right base. Their unprecedented secretive approach to vetting and obtaining his political records confirm their reluctance to a necessary and full review. Changing the required approval vote to a simple majority and withholding the vote on Garland are all part of the same plan to make the Supreme Court a predictably partisan
institution. These are precedents that harm our democracy and respect for our independent judiciary.
82
@INYou sound surprised that justices vote their conscience. The Liberal block on the court has voted lock step to the Liberal philosophy and you complain about the justices appointed by Republicans. The tie-breaking votes more often than not in this court and the previous court were cast by Republican appointed presidents NOT by the 4 justices appointed by . Democrat presidents.
2
I do suspect that Putin's reach spreads even further into the Republican Party than is currently being discussed right now. It only takes a few key Senators and Congressman out there carrying water for our Country's most insidious enemy. We have proven that we are vulnerable to corruption, allowing both China and Russia to establish beachheads here.
We seem to be hoping for a miracle from Mueller or by a newly elected Democratic Congress (who won't take power until next January should it come to pass). I fear that our system of due process will be too slow this time to save the Republic from our enemies; especially since Trump and his ilk have both feet pressed to the brakes. Or to put it another way; both feet pressed on the throat of the Justice Department's.
Stressing and distressing times for our democracy indeed as the Supreme Court moves in step with this Republican cabal. Meanwhile the stock market roars. That tells you want the new American oligarchs think of the situation.
22
I’ve had suspicions for some time now that the Mueller investigation is a sham to keep the Democrats and us voters distracted while the GOP turns our country into a totalitarian Republican dictatorship with Mad King Donny as president for life. Sadly, about a third of our fellow citizens are eagerly anticipating the day they can stomp their boots on the necks of women, people of color, and anyone else they hate without fear of repercussions.
Americans who believe that all Supreme Court nominees should be thoroughly and equally vetted should organize a huge protest and march on the U.S. Capitol. Republican senators and representatives need to be confronted face-to-face. The Republicans may not capitulate but it would certainly attract media attention to an issue which is so important to the future of this country. And they would not be allowed to get away with such mealy-mouthed excuses for short-circuiting the process.
6
So many stories like this about attacks on the American democratic system. Great powers in the past are often hollowed out from within before an outside power deals the final blow. American seems to be going that route. The Austro-Hungarian Empire looked big and powerful before WWI, but its citizens no longer believed in it and knew the end was coming.
4
It is no secret that republicans want a vote (confirmation) of their pick before they lose their numbers in the Senate come November. Even if the process does become delayed, there is no doubt that republicans would ram through the nominee in a lame duck Congress.
Having said that, what is more alarming (excluding all of the secrecy and stonewalling by republicans) is the deluge of advertisements for the nominee. (misleading they are at that) I am not sure the dark money behind the ads will get the negatives of the nominee above water.
What ALL Americans (on all sides ) are looking for is daylight in regards to the machinations of government and in particular the Senate. Eliminate all secret holds and filibusters and just hold straight up and down votes. That requires all information and documents relating to said votes.
Democracy cannot be boiled down to an ad.
6
@FunkyIrishman Unfortunately, it's actually not until January 7 that they lose power. Lame ducks have been known to do a lot of harm.
I’ve been seeing a steady stream of tv ads promoting Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court. Wondering when the confirmation of a Justice became a reality show with call-in votes. Oh right—when we elected a reality tv star as President.
30
The Republicans play immoral hardball over and over again. When the country is finally disgusted by Trump's treasonous shenanigans, the Democrats will take control of the White House and Congress. Then turnabout will be "fair play". It will be time to pack the court (nothing magical about the number nine) with more justices of their own political persuasion, ending once and for all the illusion that the Supreme Court is a political, not a judicial institution. Is this really what you what Mr McConnell and Mr Grassley? You shall reap what you sow.
34
There seems to be an old outmoded notion that the GOP Congress acts upon some ideological basis or some form of reason, albeit garbled. But the facts are far simpler. They act under instructions from a handful of baleful billionaires who assure them of re-election by virtue of massive spending and an expensive successful brainwashing apparatus that shapes reality for 40% of the electorate.
No need to ponder over GOP illogic or failure to see facts. It’s just venality folks. The plainest simplest of motives.
49
Let’s not forget left wing looney billionaires like Soto’s and Steyer who have a stranglehold on the Democrat Party. Laughable. We won, get over it.
Republicans like McConnell Ryan and the complicit congressional enabler will continue subverting the Constitution and laws as long as it continues to get them what they want. Including but not limited to; packing the judiciary, destroying environmental laws and any regulations that protect The majority of Americans.
Nothing can stop them except a show of Extreme force either at the ballot box or in the streets.
19
The rush to confirm Kavanaugh is part of the machinery to hand Trump a scepter. He has been emboldened to commit each egregeious act because he knows Kavanaugh is of the mind that the President the United States is a supreme power. When Kavanaugh is confirmed all Trump's constraints will be removed and he believes he then can make Mueller will go away. Those who voted based on a single issue and, those are advocating for Kavanaugh based on Roe v. Wade, need to consider the broader ramifications beyond this one issue. Should the president be above the law? McConnell set all of this in motion and his actions are nothing less than despicable. The GOP is devoid of conscience as they refuse to act to check the continued abuses of presidential powers. The Republican party is self-satisfied at the moment, but if reversed and the King were indeed a Dem, they will have been the one's who handed over the reins. Perhaps the idea of "collusion" is more far reaching than anyone originally thought. This nation and what it stands for is in peril. Voters need need consider whether or not this type of governance is what they truly believe in.
15
As the late justice Brandies said "Sunlight is always the best disinfectant".
9
Come on, there is no need to beat around the bush. We all know what the issue is here. They want Kavanaugh's confirmation over and done with as soon as possible in order to eliminate any possible risk of the Democrats taking the Senate in November. The GOP will lie, cheat, steal, or whatever else it takes to secure a conservative majority on the Supreme Court that will last another generation.
That is the only relevant issue here. There is no sense in pretending otherwise.
13
Judge Brett Kavanaugh is like the Zelig of Republican villainy:
The Ken Star witch hunt. The Bill Clinton impeachment. The stolen 2000 election in Florida. The Bush torture policies. The Bush warrantless taps. The Bush war on women's reproductive rights. The Bush war on same sex marriage.
Kavanaugh was right in the middle of every one of these travesties. No wonder the Republicans are desperate to cover up his past.
This is one of the most extremist partisan nominations in modern history, only made worse by his well known position that the office of the president is above the law and he will not be held accountable or questioned. Now you know why Trump picked him.
25
It is no secret that republicans want a vote (confirmation) of their pick before they lose their numbers in the Senate come November. Even if the process does become delayed, there is no doubt that republicans would ram through the nominee in a lame duck Congress.
Having said that, what is more alarming (excluding all of the secrecy and stonewalling by republicans) is the deluge of advertisements for the nominee. (misleading they are at that) I am not sure the dark money behind the ads will get the negatives of the nominee above water.
What ALL Americans (on all sides ) are looking for is daylight in regards to the machinations of government and in particular the Senate. Eliminate all secret holds and filibusters and just hold straight up and down votes. That requires all information and documents relating to said votes.
Democracy cannot be boiled down to an ad.
30
So why isn't anyone talking about impeaching McConnell? How is it that he plays god in Congress and no one can stop him?
It seems that no one, anywhere, is now held accountable. No one acts with any kind of integrity. No one actually cares about the greater good.
Watching the so-called religious right force their ideas down the throats of the entire country is revolting. Watching everything Trump et al do every day is painful. When are the enabling culprits going to be held to account?
I know, probably not in this lifetime. Awful.
7
Brett Kavanaugh is the padlock in the Republican chain that will effectively give them the Supreme Court majority for a at least a generation. That's why Mitch McConnell played the long game by stonewalling Merrick Garland in 2016.
Any decision that goes to the Court will be reviewed by a 5-4 majority of prejudiced far right judges whose only interest in the law will be tainted by their political persuasions, not justice and fair play. As long as McConnell and the Republicans are dealing the cards in this rigged polka game, the loser will be the American people.
Kavanaugh is on record as being amenable to leaving a sitting president alone should he be beset by legal problems, as this president surely is. Kavanaugh will look the other way at this president’s abuse of power as have the entire GOP.
Republicans have power and mean to keep it, by any means necessary. They don’t even bother to use ethical platitudes anymore. That’s what the corrupting influence of power has done to the Republican Party.
40
@silver vibes "..far right judges whose only interest in the law will be tainted by their political persuasions..." Are the decisions of "liberal" or "left" judges never tainted by their political persuasions? It is disingenuous to assume that any judges on the Supreme Court are motivated by anything other than a desire to uphold the laws of our country. But if you do assume that, then at least assume it about all of the justices. There are certainly strict constructionists who would support the notion that justices who voted for Roe v. Wade and Obergefell were motivated by something other than regard for the Constitution--perhaps even by their "political persuasions."
2
@silver vibes "Corrupt" is the word that needs repetition from now till November.
Mitch McConnell seems by all accounts to be an the true enemy of the people. The totality of the data shows that as both minority and majority leader he has served his masters and not the people. There is no common good in a single one of his deeds. The smoke and mirrors show of this president* has allowed McConnell to hide in the shadows and further the destruction of this country.
61
It really sounds to me like the Republicans strongly suspect there is something in the Kavanaugh papers that makes him look bad.
14
Answer: because there's a paper trail in Judge Kavanaugh's history that Republicans are aware of but don't want to find the light of day.
It's very likely that the second Donald Trump SCOTUS nominee's history is littered with not only partisan opinions and rulings but also contradictions and changes of mind that reflect this or that current Republican ideology; whichever way the (political) wind is blowing.
Judge Kavanaugh seems to have all the malleability of a bowl of Jell-O. He wanted President Clinton nailed to the wall when he rode shotgun on Kenneth Starr's rattling stagecoach. Supposedly a staunch Catholic, then-Mr. Kavanaugh had no problems arguing for a thoroughly detailed presentation of the stained and now-infamous blue dress. No one who never read the Starr Report but followed the unsavory saga knew precisely what Monica Lewinsky and Mr. Clinton engaged in. It seems that Mr. Kavanaugh wasn't exactly squeamish about connecting the dots. He disingenuously claimed that the president misled an impressionable ingénue when he seduced her.
Now, however, Judge Kavanaugh would have us believe that he has seen the light, recanting his prior conviction that a president is far too consumed with the burdensome duties of his office to answer any legal summons until he is no longer the bearer of the presidential seal.
Mitch McConnell and Charles Grassley will live in infamy because of their treatment of Judge Merrick Garland. They must not succeed here with Judge Kavanaugh.
22
If the GOP is hiding the dog’s messes , there is a legitimate fear that Kavanaugh will be found lacking house training sufficient to make him a legitimate candidate. The would not be so devious if there was not a need to do so. Their spurious handling of the nomination is a sure warning of Kavanaugh’s unsuitability.
9
Wow! Just when you think its impossible for politics in the USA to get any slimier, swampier or more just plain corrupt/corrupted/corrupting... well there seems to be no bottom to this particular barrel of rotting fish guts!! It seems common sense to me that judges, and most especially supreme court judges be as non-partisan as possible: above and apart from the fray of politics. Any judge that has a distinct partisan bias is well... biased and not impartial as judges should definitely be in order to do their job with integrity. Its completely obvious to all, that Mr. Kavanaugh is HIGHLY partisan and very biased in his basic approach to virtually everything, yet nobody seems to be talking about this crucial matter at all. If he is somehow rammed through the process with no regard to the laws of the nation, it is highly likely that he will do all he can to further the goals of the Republican party, instead of being a non-biased servant of "the people", instead of "the 1% or so". This would be a disaster for the country, of an almost paralleled magnitude, especially if one of the 4 remaining more "liberal" judges were to retire or be forced to resign in the next 2 years and the process were to be repeated. Do my thoughts on this extremely important issue have at least a shred or two of merit, or am i just being paranoid?
16
Somebody tell the Trumpster: the wheels on his clown car are really wobbly, and will start falling off...soon? We should all hope that it's very soon. McConnell needs to be more careful, as well. We might get stuck with Kavanaugh, it depends on how brazen Mitch thinks he can be. Somebody should be watching him, he's clever and very sneaky; that's how he has always played it...and his long game is working.
6
Sorry, but when Chuck Schumer said he isn't voting to confirm Kavanaugh, right after the nomination was announced, he gave away the Dems' game. They have no intention of voting to confirm him, regardless of what is in any requested documents, be they 200,00 or 900,000 or 3,000,000. The requests are just a delaying tactic, hoping to push the confirmation vote into a new Congress. It won't work.
McConnell and Grassley are not covering anything up. In fact they are just helping to expose- again- the raw, naked partisanship of the Dems. Grab some popcorn, this is going to be fun, and watch the fury as Schumer et al (including the NYT) ignore reality: they don't have the votes.
4
@JBu that’s so ridiculous. You do understand you are accusing the Democrats of doing what the GOP actually did? We’re you OK with Garland being delayed?
2
@JB I suspect this is a lost cause, but their tactics are the same taken by McConnell with respect to Garland. You don’t call that move Republican partisanship?!
2
Have the Republicans become so corrupt that they do not care about anything. Not their families, not their country (obviously). certainly not the world or anything in it. They have become so bad they nothing matters to them except winning. Winning What? That is the question. What do they care about? Nothing that I can see is worth their behavior. They all need to be replaced and as soon as possible. I do not recognize these people as qualified to legislate or even to be in Washington, DC.
14
Reduced taxes on the rich. A 100% Ban on abortions. The Business Right plus the Christian Right—an unholy alliance.
@BKC I wold agree with your comment if you would add Democrats along with the word Republicans.
If anybody on earth still believes Mitch McConnell cares about his historical legacy, it would be truly astonishing. Mitch will just be another senator written about in history books with frequent mentions of alleged corruption, deception, and heartlessness. Since there have been many corrupt senators in the history of the US, it's hardly unprecedented. It's just that it's disgusting. Antonyms for integrity include dishonesty, deceit, disgrace, dishonor, and corruption--and dictionaries will have Mitch's photo in the future to give a visual description of such. What does Mitch care? He's getting what he wanted. So Benedict Arnold thought.
The reason why McConnell and Trump are hated and not just disliked by many is because they are the epitome of the real life lesson that nice guys finish last. In real life, most of the time, nice guys DO finish last, at least in the way most people view winning. Trump has had beautiful wives, even, perhaps, sex with a Playboy Bunny and a porn star, possession of billions of dollars, and enormous power. He accomplished this, depending on how you look at it, by virtue of his dearth of values, his undeniable willingness to take huge risks, and his overall ambition to always finish first. And McConnell has profited for similar reasons.
I deeply agree with this editorial, but, alas, I feel it will hit the history books much like the bio of McConnell. An interesting historical record--not much else.
For there is no shaming Mitch McConnell.
6
The phrase 'a dereliction of their constitutional duty ' perfectly describes the actions / inactions of the GOP Senate majority under Mitch McConnell's 'leadership'. It is a disgrace.
24
Did Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee demand to see Justice Kagan's emails from her tenure as Dean of Harvard Law School? How about Justice Sotomayer's emails from her term on the Board of Directors for the Puerto Rican Defense and Education Fund? Of course not. This is nothing more than a stalling tactic arising from the fever dream that somehow Democrats will be able to block Judge Kavanaugh's nomination after the mid-term elections.
1
The President got away with refusing to disclose his tax returns while a candidate. His enablers are just running with it as a kind of "new normal" (or deviance defined down).
It's still not ok. Scream bloody murder from the rooftops.
74
The Republican controlled Congress is a rogue branch of government. McConnell runs the Senate like a tyrant, rides roughshod over the minority party, runs interference on behalf of a rogue president. McConnell has joined Trump in trashing good governance and widening divisions within the people.
The Times points out "the Senate should have access to anything in [Kavanaugh's] record that reveals pre-existing views on issues like" women’s reproductive rights and same-sex marriage," and concludes "it would be a dereliction of their constitutional duty to do less."
Are we shocked that the Republican controlled Congress will do less? "Constitutional duty" is not something Republicans care about.
His Majesty, the Supreme Potentate Mitch McConnell, dictates from his throne, issues his commands and Republican senators carry them out in lockstep.
There is no such thing as a moderate Republican. Susan Collins is Ted Cruz in makeup. Lisa Murkowski dances sprightly to McConnell's tune.
But why should Democrats complain about Republicans who rule with a despotic grip, placing their partisan ideology over the will of the people?
Some "Democrat" Senators are willing to put their reelection ahead of the good of the people. Is Joe Donnelly actually a Democrat? Or a Republican who wears blue? Will Heidi Heitkamp and Joe Manchin side with the majority or with the people? They are unreliable.
Too many senators care more to sit in a shadowy rogue Senate than stand up for the people.
9
The standard GOP tactic: Lie, deny, cover-up. Simple. Of course they want this to be secret and Quick, his primary purpose is to save Trumps behind. Seriously.
14
His positions on many issues are clearly revealed in his hundreds of opinions. There is no question he is the Democrats worst nightmare. Drop the drama. They all need to stand together, including those from red states, and get Collins and Murkowski to vote with them. It's all about those two Republicans. (If the Dems can't hold onto Heitcamp and Manchin their toast anyway). As long as those two Rs get as much as they want to see, get on with the vote. I would recommend blue states enshrine the right to choose in their state law asap. My state of Washington passed an initiative in the 1990s that did exactly that.
5
@bill
Sorry - my so called "moderate" Republican Senator Susan Collins only votes against her party when it costs her NOTHING.
2
Why are they not speaking out against trump? Why are they so silent about Russia and our elections? They have no backbone, they care only about their party. They dont care about Kavanaugh and how he will help trump with possible impeachment.
They don't care, simple.
22
Republicans are doing exactly the same thing that Harry Reid did with Kagan. The Obama White House, not the National Archivist, curated the documents Congress received regarding Kagan.
As for documents, the Democrats have everything related to his legal career. The documents being denied are related to Kavanaugh's time as a staff secretary; nothing to do with how he would proceed as a judge.
5
Kavanaugh was staff secretary to Bush during Bush’s most paranoid years, right after 911. Of course we were a shaken country, and extreme power for the commander in chief seemed like a reasonable idea. But what on earth makes anyone think that we need someone on the Supreme Court who might give this power grabbing, virtue devoid, possibly traitorous president tools to wiretap without a warrant and torture even you and I? We know he would need no reason beyond his own sick whim. As for sexual freedom, are all the Republicans. In our country eager to invite the government into their bedrooms and to keep women enslaved? It may be that Kavanaugh was working very hard on establishing all of these hideously unAmerican initiatives. Grassley wants one party, and possibly one man, in absolute permanent control. It seems all republicans are willing to exchange Stalin for a repression of pesky other parties. I pray that Dubya might stop painting in the shower long enough to tell us what might be in those long long records. Never thought I’d say it but we need him on this. No republican in Congress will cross the monsters who run it. And of course Kavanaugh in his quiet ambition has been less controversial while visible and impeachable, for you who would say his record as judge is sufficient, let’s just forget what other opinions he holds.
15
What words are we permitted to use? How much truth may we speak? McConnell is less than human. He’s a sick and disturbed cornered animal, and many of us know why. When one lives with that much internalized self-hatred one’s entire personality becomes perverted. When one lives with far too many people having the goods on you, you will do anything to stop them from using it. One could say it’s inexplicable that some Democrats have not done so. But it’s perfectly clear why. They still haven’t accepted — the evidence in front of them notwithstanding — what the Republican Party is. In their belief that they have power, or will again someday, as opposed to the illusion of power, they condemn themselves to a dreamworld in which they think their opposition believes in democracy. When they wake up from their dream it’ll be too late. One would like to believe there is a mystery here, the mystery of why the Times and the Post and USA Today and the television networks engage in the same delusion as the Democrats. But there is no mystery. There are places in America the media will not go. They’re the only ones left who have the power to go there, and they won’t. Leaving the rest of us doomed. They have a chance, right now, to disrupt this horrific travesty of a broken political system. But they don’t have much time.
3
How worried is the GOP about Kavanaugh's past? They're flooding the airwaves with pro-Kavanaugh ads -- featuring only women endorsers of course -- in South Carolina and several other states.
I've never seen an ad campaign for a Supreme Court Justice nominee before. I guess we're going to admit the appointment is 100% political and 0% judicial prowess at this stage?
26
I have two words for Republicans who would truncate the historical record for Brett Kavanaugh: David Souter. When confirmed, they thought they were getting a conservative but what they got was often somewhat different.
Consider the choice of a Supreme Court Justice like the choice of what to have at an elaborate dinner party. After devising a menu, the cook will consider all the ingredients he or she might need to make the meal.
Cooking without planning just like confirmation to the Court may give us a new Associate Justice akin to the infamous chocolate pie in the movie The Help. And, unlike that movie, this "pie" will need to be eaten again and again for years.
Knowing what you are getting is necessary for all Senators and the nation as a whole. Just like making a chocolate pie.
1
Work performed under attorney-client privilege is a poor indicator of the personal views the preparing attorney holds. We have an adversarial system of justice. Developing legal theories that advance the rights of the client is the duty of a good lawyer, even when they disagree with them.
The classic, "How can you defend a murderer, when you know he is guilty?" In our system of law, the attorney is defending the clients rights to a fair trial - prosecution or defense, and defending our system of justice, even when the clients they represent are reprehensible.
I am sure the insistence on reviewing all the work Judge Kavanaugh has done is just as nefarious on the Democrats side as the Republicans that want to ram-rod him through.
1) Attorney work product, when viewed out-of-content, can make a person look REALLY bad.
2) It provides a back-door to find dirt on W. Bush, an end-run around attorney-client privilege.
3) The Democrats are so COMPLETELY powerless, this stall tactic is the only tool they have in the tool box.
If Judge Kavanaugh had been a private sector attorney, all of his prior client work would be untouchable. I am not sure that the president's lawyer should be open to perfect transparency - our adversarial system of justice demands attorney-client privilege to function.
The Republicans are the majority party and control the White House. The court is going to move to the right. That is how a democracy works.
1
@Tom Stoltz
Was Kavanaugh GW Bush's personal attorney or a White House attorney? I think the latter, and I think that makes all the difference in regard to attorney-client privilege vs. the need for transparency. Material saved in the archives have been saved for the public and for history. As the editors make clear, only those documents that are classified by the government (not GW Bush) would or should be kept from the public.
9
"If conservatives become convinced they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy." - David Frum, former speechwriter for George W. Bush. I'd say he's also proven prophetic.
85
Look around. There are precious few champions of democracy. Impeachment, spending millions on elections, attacking the opposition personally, and talk of oligarchs, kleptocrats, and Trump as the devil are not tools of democracy. They are tactics deigned to reverse a terrible mistake that was made. The faith in dremocracy has been set aside by almost everyone. The point isn’t who has remained faithful to democratic principles. The point is who wins.
@MichaelNow that is really excellent comment that should be saved by every American
As you might imagine if you know what a staff secretary does, there are pros and cons to disclosure. A good argument defends the pros and explains why the cons are wrong. This is half an argument.
BTW, staff secretaries decide the stuff that gets to the President. If Kavanaugh wrote personal notes on the stuff that would be relevant. The stuff itself is of questionable value. The volume is huge. There’s probably some relevant info. But probably not a whole lot.
I think arguing the pros and cons is the better way to address this debatable issue.
If Democrats are looking for someone to blame for this debacle they should look in the mirror. They are totally responsible for making Trump's next SCOTUS nominee a slam dunk. In 2013 Democrats took the dramatic step of eliminating filibusters for most nominations by presidents, a power play they said was necessary to fix a broken system. Dems used a rare parliamentary move to change the rules so that federal judicial nominees & executive-office appointments could advance to confirmation votes by a simple majority of senators, rather than the 60-vote super-majority that has been the standard for nearly 40 years. The rule change represented a substantial power shift in a chamber that for more than two centuries has prided itself on affording more rights to the minority party than any other legislative body in the world. The Democrats by changing the rule gave a president whose party holds the majority in the Senate an absolute certainty of having his nominees approved, with far less opportunity for political obstruction. And lets be honest. Democrats did this in an effort to stack the D.C. Circuit court, which reviews many cases related to federal laws & regulations, to tilt its balance in a liberal direction. We should note to their credit every Republican voted against this rule change. They said the way Democrats upended the rules would result in fallout for years. The GOP vowed to reciprocate if they reclaimed the majority. And they have. What goes around comes around.
10
@Bill Brown Are you saying- then, Republicans are not capable of behaving any better than Democrats? BTW, your example of Democrats " effort to stack the DC Circuit court" isn't the same as Republicans ramrodding a Supreme Court nominee through.
Your "what goes around comes around" is a sad commentary and position about this very important position. Here's hoping that "what goes around comes around" does not negatively impact your life by Kavanaugh's Supreme Court votes.
6
Let’s be honest and ask why the Democrats took this extraordinary step. The Republicans were filibustering all judicial nominations, not just the DC circuit court.
It’s been plain for the last 30 years that Republicans don’t treat the opposition as a legitimate when Democrats are in power
7
@Bill Brown, US Senate apportionment is the most anti-democratic monstrosity of what is utterly fake democracy.
1
Just another example of how little regard the Republican legislators has for decency, fair play,and more importantly, the democratric process.
Meanwhile the staunch republicam voters applaud their elected officials for whittling away at their rights.
25
Let me get this straight - there are 40,000 pages that consist of copies of one email? That isn’t an error, that is a deliberate attempt to obfuscate. 40,000 pages is 80 reams of paper and more than 24 hours of printing/copying.
It is all too obvious that Brett Kavanaugh is a political animal who lacks the ability to separate his personal feelings from the rule of law. Men like Kavanaugh seek power in order to fulfill their own agenda. The Supreme Court is supposed to offer checks and balances, not add to the partisan fray that has made our government completely useless. No meaningful legislation has gotten through the House or Senate since the Affordable Care Act. Executive orders are being created at every turn as our representatives get nothing done.
I don’t care how long it takes, but every relevant document should be provided by the National Archives as it has been for every previous nominee. If Trump, McConnell et al don’t like it, then perhaps don’t nominate a judge with such an enormous record.
68
The short answer to the question your headline poses is, of course, "because they can."
In this instance of SCOTUS confirmation procedure (as in so many comparable instances) it seems that the GOP believes in transparency and due process only when they are applied to Democrats. When they conflict with their own agenda and interests, they are perfectly willing to jettison precedent and (as with Merrick Garland) Constitutionally-mandated procedures. It makes one wonder what they feel they NEED to hide from us all about Mr. Kavanaugh...
41
Seems kind of dumb to try to hide the W Bush staff secretary records of Kavanaugh from the confirmation process. The worst possible scenario for the GOP would be a successful confirmation, followed by impeachment or resignation in some unknown future.
Hiding stuff usually only works for a while and the consequences of doing so become exponentially worse.
67
When retired intelligence and pentagon officials can speak out in defiance of Mr. Trump where the rep house and senate remains quiet, I no longer hold any hope of the rep party doing anything at all in opposition to Trump or his court nominations. It is not a question of their fearing the rep base. It is that the rep congress is in complete agreement with Mr. Trump on all of his thoughts and actions. Accordingly, the fall election is crucial to the future of the US democracy.
112
This makes one suspect that there must be something that would scare non-republicans out of their wits. One thing I have read suggests that Kavanaugh seems to feel presidents should have some king-like authority that could not be thwarted. That scares me very much. With Trump acting out like he does I already am thinking we need to change some laws for our own protection.
100
As if decades of opinions aren’t enough to determine Kavanaugh’s judicial temperament and philosophy. The request for ‘papers’ is just a delay tactic.
18
@EGD, A quick scan of those "...decades of opinions " is cause enough to delay confirmation to provide for an in-depth review. The stakes are just too great to pass on a serious, probing review.
7
@EGD Glad to see some common sense in California !
@EGD
Much truth to that. He'll be a hard right lackey and ideologue. It won't be a surprise.
The reasons should be as self-evident to the editoriat as they are to everyone else.
Democratic requests for voluminous disclosures of the quantity of Kavanaugh’s archived toenail-clippings clearly represent an attempt to argue the need to analyze them exhaustively for indications of Porphyria (the disease believed to cause the madness of Britain’s King George III), and indefinitely draw-out the confirmation process in the very unlikely prospect that they will flip the Senate in November (even though new senators wouldn’t be seated until early January, 2019 – but they would claim that a dead Senate shouldn’t confirm a Court appointment that would affect our jurisprudence for forty years, on the Merrick Garland premise).
Then, Republicans know that all that material simply will show Kavanaugh to be a conservative jurist, which everyone already knows; and that reams and reams of material will simply give Democratic spin-machines the opportunity to twist every opinion and notes thereto in support of their own ideological ends as attack-vehicles. For the same reason, Trump will never release his prior-year taxes – Democrats wouldn’t be talking about North Korea or Iran for the remainder of Trump’s term for all the manufactured demonization of this or that deduction.
Both reasons are transparent. Neither will excuse a delay of Kavanaugh’s confirmation beyond October – and it should happen sometime in September. So … do your worst with the time and materials you have.
16
@Richard
How you doing mate ? good, good. I do read your comments, and from time to time actually agree on them in principle. - this is not one of those times.
Are you actually saying that just because a candidate that has an extensive record, should not have that record looked at because it is vast ? really ?
Please tell me it ain't so me friend ...
136
@FunkyIrishman:
Kavanaugh's record has been and is being analyzed extensively -- EVERY Supreme Court nominee's is. I just believe that DNA scans and asking him to drop trou with a ruler in hand … are not only excessive but transparently self-serving by those unalterably opposed to his confirmation on ideological grounds.
@Richard (x2)
Ok, fair enough. So you are saying that, people can ask questions and comb though the record, but only to a point where you and other republicans deem worthy, so that it might not embarrass or disqualify the candidate?
Not very Democratic...
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Kavanaugh seems to represent the worst of which the Federalist Society is capable, in terms of turning the United States of America into a dictatorship of the wealthy and powerful, interfedering with women's privacy, minding other people's sex lives, and a variety of other degradations of the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" on the part of anyone but the privileged, often narrowed to white male privilege.
Less mentioned in Kavanaugh's record are his support voter suppression and cheating, and his support for extreme presidential power. He supported Nixon over Watergate.
It's hard to rank all the awful policies the kleptocratic party that has confused its ego and wealth with god's favor support.
But nothing can be done until we overcome the theft of elections from the majority. This threat comes not only from abroad but from within. The reason these powerful Republicans are not speaking out is because they like the result.
To them, the end justifies the cheating means. We in the majority need to push on this until it stops.
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@Susan
Hopefully there will come a day within our lifetimes that the ideal of community with just laws for all will rue the day. It might take another couple of generations to shake it all out as demographics take their toil, and no longer will timing of a republican administration dictate the balance of courts to misinterpret laws to enhance the white plutocracy.
Perhaps we are at a tipping point that the backlash will overcome the abysmal track record of indifference to Democracy. There is new found vigor in the air.
As always, keep the faith.
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You write under the assumption that in another generation or two the United States will still be around as a republic. That requires an optimism nearly impossible to justify. We’re watching the republic disappear before our eyes, and it will be gone before most of us are. Patrick Henry, on leaving the constitutional convention, was clear In his belief that the document gave the president too much power. He knew how democracies die, and he was right. The others were less concerned because they had George Washington. Alas, we don’t.
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@ADN
The political pendulum does not swing within a vacuum, nor does it swing only one way. Come back and comment after election day. We can discuss quotes then and their meaning relative to the political landscape.
We might meet in the middle upon the moor ...
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Any Republican who has reservations about Kavanaugh (perhaps Ben Sasse, Lisa Murkowski, or Susan Collins?) should leave the coercive and immoral strong-arm machinations of Mitch McConnell and become Independents. That way they can vote for or against Kavanaugh - and various policies of this administration.
Interviewers, whether senators or journalists, often make the mistake of asking leading questions that have a "yes" or "no" answer. DO NOT ask such questions because people will answer the way the question is posed. Instead, ask questions that require the candidate to extrapolate. For example, don't ask Kavanaugh "Do you support Roe v Wade?" Instead, ask him "Do you think Roe v Wade should be struck down by the Supreme Court, or do you think that chipping away at R v W should be the prerogative of the states?"
We know what happened when Roberts and Alito were questioned on "precedence." They both agreed with precedence. That's meaningless. Senators, ask questions that require candidates (whether for the Supreme Court or for a cabinet position) to clarify his or her opinion on the issues. And everyone else, call or write to your Republican senators and tell them to become Independents who put our country and the American people over their loyalty to the Republican party. And tell them to get spines and hearts.
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McConnell has won his long game already. Mr. Mitch outplayed Reid and Schumer and Obama. Rules- he makes rules he needs when he needs them. Ethics, Integrity, Welfare of America, just empty and meaningless words for Mr. Mitch. Mitch plays to win, at any and all costs. Sadly Reid and Senate Dems just keep getting played.
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@George Jackson
Harry Reid used the nuclear option (51 vote confirmations) and it was Democrats who first objected to having confirmation hearings in a PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION YEAR.
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@George Jackson And to that I say "Well done Mitch!"
@George Jackson You have been good cop, bad copped. While there may be inconsequential differences, both parties work for the same funders and have the same goals.
I first learned this year that the majority party in the Senate can prevent minority Senators from getting information they need to properly fulfill their duty to oversee the executive branch. One by one DJT and his enabler McConnell have been revealing the weaknesses of our system of government. We keep discovering that we have been relying on presidents to be honest and ethical, and Senators to be collegial and fair-minded. Oops!
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McConnell is not only unapologetic but proud of his success at stacking the courts with judges intent upon dismantling the regulatory state, no matter the destruction of Senate and democratic norms his agenda entails.
The ends justify the means for McConnell and for the GOP as a whole, and the end goal of a Supreme Court likely to rubber stamp their fondest nihilist dreams is a goal decades and billions of invested dollars in the making.
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@Julie
There's no destruction of democratic norms. This are the democratic norms! Nothing being done is illegal. You just don't like it. However, as someone I'm sure you love once said: "ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES!"
Therefore, go pound sand.
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@Julie,
McConnell and Ryan is Duke & Duke from Trading Places. They even LOOK like Mortimer and Randolph Duke!
Let's see...
Neither Ryan nor McConnell will allow a Republican president to be impeached.
The entirety of the GOP and their owners see Brett Kavanaugh as their man on the court, regardless of what happens to Trump.
McConnell has skin in the Trump game. For one, his wife serves on the Trump cabinet.
The goals of the Trump administration are no different than the goals of the Koch brothers, Adelson, Wall Street, Big Pharma, Big Insurance and every other part-owner of the GOP. There are relatively few issues, if any, where they really diverge, with the exception of immigration and trade. Trade is probably the biggest bone of contention the Kochs have with Trump, with the way immigration is handled being, perhaps, not to their taste. Other than that, the undoing of everything Americans have worked for as a nation is perfectly in line with the Kochs' view of how America should be. Think Dickens, rather than FDR.
There is evidence that Kavanaugh has skeletons in his closet. His penchant for overspending on baseball tickets is one. A connection to Justice Kennedy's son's bank might be another. Then, there is his ample record. Maddow dug up a video. More needs to come to light. I'm sure, somewhere, there's something that would make Kavanaugh withdraw, were we to find out.
Come on, NYT! Dig!
===
Things Trump Did While We Weren't Looking
https://www.rimaregas.com/2018/08/07/greed-malfeasance-never-sleep-blog4...
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I understand that the documents being withheld from the Senate are likely to establish that Kavanaugh made substantively inaccurate statements during his earlier confirmation hearings. He can be directly questioned again on those same issues and repeat the inaccurate testimony if he dare.
Can you say perjury?
It may have to wait for a House Investigation during the next Congress, but with subpoena power, those documents should be easily obtained. The the Democrats can then work on their Impeachment chops going after Kavanaugh.
Republicans might want to reconsider his nomination, facing the probability that he will not be successful evading a Democratic Perjury investigation.
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@mike4vfr: Well, maybe. There has long been reason to question whether Justice Thomas' confirmation hearings were riddled through perjury and we've been stuck with him for nearly 30 years.
Kavanaugh is an awful choice for the Court -- as anyone on the Federalist Society list would be. The GOP once again reveals its utter hypocrisy and total lack of fundamental honesty (or even belief in the principles that supposedly frame the Constitution) in its embrace of a Presidency they are willing to allow to be the most imperial in US history.
The GOP has become, starting with Reagan, a party that despises its own voters (except the rich ones) and despises the freedoms (except guns and unbridled profiteering) they pretend to espouse.
Lincoln weeps.
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@mike4vfr If the GOP puts him on the Supreme Court on a partisan vote, perhaps the Democrats should hold the impeachment card (of Kavanaugh) after the midterms so that they can play it like a TRUMP card (yes, I went there!) anytime the GOP-heavy court threatens to take up cases that threaten civil rights.
@mike4vfr
Democrats have to stop waiting for Supreme Court Nominees to be confirmed, before they do anything about it.
And Obama let a bunch of torturers and the administration threat led to get thousands of American Troops killed in Iraq, not to mention all the the global bankers who wrecked the economy he let go unprosecuted, so I have no faith in the Democratic Party to do anything after the confirmation.
What are they doing about Gorsuch?
The problem here is not Judge Kavanaugh's paper qualifications but the papers that may disqualify him.
Like Roger B. Taney (he of Dredd Scott) Kavanaugh is first and foremost a politician. While many disagree with Justice Grouch's judicial views, he cannot be accused of being a politician posing as an objective jurist.
Like FDR, Trump wants to pack the Supreme Court with political allies and cronies. This time, there appear to be no patriots from the President's party, as there were in FDRs day, ready to deny Trump the chance to turn the Supremes into a political echo chamber.
Judge Kavanaugh could help the Court and restore faith that someone in Trump world has a sense of dignity, if he would ask that all White House documents pertaining to him be released. subject to redaction of classified information.
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@Frank McNeil Valid suggestion - good point - transparency critical - problem solved. Mitch will find a way around it.
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C'mon people. The fix is in. It's been in since the Senate fell under the control Mitch McConnell. Now that the Emperor, or King or whatever we should call him moved into the White House, normal legislative procedures have been sent to the great beyond. These people are going to do whatever they can get away with and since they are in charge, can pretty much get away with whatever they want.
It is interesting to hear of these latest escapades of GOP power plays. Well, actually, it's rather sickening and depressing. I should say necessary instead.
Their ruler and master is on a short string. They know that this joy ride may very well come to an end in Nov. So they are going to push every button they can to grab as much power as they can.
They cheated and won and will continue to cheat until they are thrown out. The Supreme Court is going hard right. The wedding cake people, religious zealots and corporations will cash in get what they want. I'm going into the uterus tracking business because they will all now become state property. Women for Trump!
The only thing the Democrats can do is stall like crazy to keep the cheaters from grabbing even more power. Then, if the House flips and the Senate stays Republican, the House can block everything the cheaters want.
In the meantime, Trump supporters can enjoy their trade war and count all the money that tax break is making for them and tell themselves that Obama was 10 times worse.
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@Bruce
You are scaring me again. (in a good way if that is possible) I always appreciate your comment mate, because you cut through it like no other.
What do you think of ads for a Supreme Court nominee? Seems unprecedented, doesn't it ?
If there is a trick that can be pulled out of the bag...
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@Bruce Rozenblit
A Democratic House cannot block everything from a Republican Senate. Presidential appointments, including to the Supreme Court, need be confirmed by the Senate, only.
Indeed, that's why if Dems win one house of Congress later this year, the Senate would be preferable . . . though less plausible due to the overwhelming share of Senate seats up for election being on the Dem side.
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@Bruce Rozenblit
No. Stalling gives them time to destroy Our Republic.
The Republican Party is systematically dismantling the Constitution and the Republic while Democrats stall.
Democrats need to go out on the street in front of their offices, stand on soap boxes and yell to everyone that our Republic is under attack, and that We the People must rise up and defend it.
We are near the end of a political coup financed by global billionaires with no loyalty to the USA, designed to end the rule of law because it cuts into their profits.
Read your Constitution, then compare it to everything that Republicans say and do. They are against almost all of it. Really, see for yourself. Read the Constitution and Amendments line by line, and see how it compares to Republican statements and actions.
Then read the Declaration of independence and see that the Republicans act exactly like King George.
They keep calling our government the enemy and centralizing our economy under the control of the mega rich, making their corporations citizens while they treat human citizens as a major inconvenience.
We the People need too rise up and take Our Government back from traitors that call it, and by definition We the People, "the enemy."
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First times are adding up with the Republican Party. The GOP is rapidly becoming an anathema to our nation. For those in the Party who still place patriotism above party allegiance it is time, past time, to speak up as often as possible. The nation and especially many loyal Republican voters need to hear again and again the concern and indeed harm Trump is committing against our national interests.
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The Democrats currently have no formal power in the Senate to stop the nomination from going through. But they can be quite clear what they will do with their prospective power, whether it's gained in 2018, 2020 or beyond.
They should - no, must - declare, not as an empty threat but as cast-iron intent, that they will open any documents about Kavanaugh that are currently withheld; and that, if he has been confirmed and installed as a Supreme Court Justice, they will begin impeachment proceedings if the documents reveal grounds for doing so.
The Republicans know what they are trying to hide and if it's indeed something incriminating, this might just concentrate their minds into slowing or even stopping the nomination.
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PS: and I left out a more likely outcome of the scenario in my last paragraph - the nominee knows what skeletons he has in his closet and may just decide to quit.
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@mancuroc
Even if impeachment is impossible, merely unearthing Kavanaugh's true record will weaken the Republican effort to weaponize the judiciary, and make it easier for the Dems to fight back by packing the Court with rational justices.
@mancuroc
I know there are people out there who think my idea embodies the concept of 'two wrongs don't make a right', but when control is re-established over Supreme Court appointments the Congress needs to expand the number of justices to at least eleven.
It's called cheating the cheaters.
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The real question here is how has Putin managed to control Trump and virtually every Republican US Senator. It is either a conspiracy beyond imagining or a coincidence beyond possibility.
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@James Ricciardi
I think you are looking at this the wrong way. Putin may have controlled trump or at least gave him a reason to look at Putin as a benefactor but there is no reason to believe that virtually every Republican US Senator was or is complicit in a conspiracy.
Some may be complicit, but many Republican Senators and Representatives are simply too scared of crossing trump and losing their jobs to do the right thing.
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@akimbo10 Many Republican Senators and Representatives are going to lose their jobs anyway in November. Hopefully, there will be a bloodbath.
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This, in and of itself, is why I have finally relinquished what little hope I had left for the US.
Remaining silent over fear of losing their jobs? Their JOBS? That is, amongst other things, rank cowardice. From a branch of your government.
You have my sympathy but you've brought this upon yourselves.
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