It’s all over but the shouting. (but there’s a lot of that to still be done)
Here’s a list I compiled the day before Kavanaugh was sworn in. Some people think that with his confirmation, the Left will go on their merry way, but we know better, don’t we? At the time of this being posted, a few of these have already been done or are ongoing. Which ones have you seen? Just for fun, let me know how many you’ve seen, then come back to this page from time to time in the coming weeks and see how many we can check off.
What to expect next:
The Media will say:
“Kavanaugh was confirmed under a cloud of suspicion”
“…was under FBI investigation for sexual assault”
The Democrats:
Will call for further investigation
Will demand that he recuse himself in cases of sexual assault, women’s rights issues.
Attempt to impeach Kavanaugh
Fundraise on appointment
The Left:
“Occupy SCOTUS” demonstrations
Some sort of demonstration aimed at physically preventing Kavanaugh from being sworn in and seated
Continued threats against senators who voted “yes”.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) told reporters Friday that she agrees with fellow moderate Republican Sen. Jeff Flake (AZ) in his call for an FBI investigation that would delay the Senate floor vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination for up to one week.”
This would be a mistake on the part of the GOP. The Republicans would benefit in no way from this. It would be a win for the Democrats. They will fill that extra time finding new women willing to accuse Kavanaugh of sexual assault and now with the federal investigation genie out of the bottle, they will demand FBI investigations for all of them. The Republicans would be hard-pressed to come up for a rationale for denying further investigation requests once having agreed to the first one. That “one week” will end up being two, three, or more. The Democrats are hoping to create a string of allegations and investigations that they can stretch out past the elections.
If this drags out past the November elections, and the Democrats win back the Senate, they will claim that there is no mandate from the people for a conservative justice and will demand his nomination be withdrawn. Even if they lose or they win and Kavanaugh is seated anyway, they will be able to point to an FBI investigation into Kavanaugh’s alleged sexual assaults as a reason for his recusal in any matter concerning the rights of women, which of course would include any litigation that threatens to overturn Roe v. Wade.
If the object is to get Kavanaugh appointed to the Supreme Court, this will not change a single Democratic vote. It will allow them and their partners in the mainstream media to claim that “Kavanaugh is under FBI investigation for sexual assault allegations”. There is no upside for the Republicans in doing this. They think this will help them seem sympathetic to Dr. Ford and the other accusers, and that will help them in tight Senate races. It won’t, it will only make matters worse, not when every Democratic challenger would now be able to run campaign ads truthfully saying that their opponent is for a judge who is or was under federal investigation for criminal sex offenses.
Update: According to Fox News, following the Senate’s lead, President Trump has ordered the FBI to perform an investigation into the existing allegations of sexual abuse. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says the nomination will be brought to the full Senate for a vote.
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz Explains Democrat Opposition to Kavanaugh
It was a raucous day Monday on Capitol Hill at the start of the Senate confirmation hearings to approve Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. Amidst outbursts from the gallery by anti-Kavanaugh protesters, Senate Democrats pulled out all the stops in an all-out effort to delay the confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh, throwing one procedural hurdle after another in front of Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa. Most of the objections coming from the Democratic side centered around thousands of pages of documents requested by them that they had not received or had time to examine. Committee member Ted Cruz in his opening statement gave a dead-on assessment of why the Democrats are so against Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
Here’s an outtake from Sen. Cruz’s remarks that sums up nicely what the true Democrat objection to Kavanaugh’s confirmation:
“We know that every Democratic member of this committee is going to vote no we don’t have to speculate. Every single one of them is publicly announced they’re voting no– doesn’t depend on what they read in documents, doesn’t depend on what judge Kavanaugh says at this hearing they’ve announced ahead of time they are voting no and most of the Democrats in the Senate have announced that in the full Senate but everyone should understand Judge Kavanaugh has handed over more documents than any nominee more than the last five combined, Republican and Democratic nominees. This is not about documents it’s not about qualification it’s not about record, what it is about Democratic senators trying to re-litigate the 2016 election and just as importantly working to begin litigating the 2020 presidential election but we had an opportunity for the American people to speak, they did. They voted in 2016 and they wanted judges and justices who will be faithful to the Constitution that’s why I’m confident at the end of what Shakespeare would describe as ‘a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing,’ I am confident that Judge Kavanaugh will become Justice Kavanaugh and will be confirmed in the United States Supreme Court. Thank you mister chairman.”
In a constitutional republic, why would you not want a constitutionalist justice?
Progressives not surprisingly, hate President Trump’s pick of Judge Brett Kavanaugh. He won’t create rights not enumerated in the Constitution, nor will he legislate from the bench. Conservatives like him, as he was vetted and approved by the Federalist Society for consideration. They love him for the same reason the Left hates him. Libertarians have given the choice a cooler reception, citing concerns about privacy rights, especially when it comes to Fourth Amendment protections. Judge Andrew Napolitano, a libertarian-leaning judge had this to say about the pick:
Now he has given us a nominee to the highest court in the land who typifies the culture he railed against when he claimed he’d drain the swamp. This man and this culture accept cutting holes in the Fourth Amendment because they don’t believe that it should protect privacy. This man and this culture accept unlimited spying on innocent Americans by the National Security Agency because they don’t believe that the NSA is subject to the Constitution. — Judge Andrew Napolitano
Judge Napolitano’s concerns have been echoed by others on the libertarian side:
Kavanaugh is not another Gorsuch—not even close. Disappointing pick, particularly with respect to his #4thAmendment record. Future decisions on the constitutionality of government surveillance of Americans will be huge. We can’t afford a rubber stamp for the executive branch. –Rep Justin Amash, (R) MI
Senator Rand Paul, arguably the most notable libertarian on Capitol Hill was also cool on Kavanaugh, reserving his judgment for now… “I’m not going to make any comment until we’ve had a chance to look through and really go through a discovery process, meet the nominee,” — Sen Rand Paul, (R) KY
Liberals don’t like Kavanaugh, they are deathly afraid of him overturning Roe v. Wade, and would prefer a justice who believes in a “living Constitution”. Conservatives like him because they think he won’t legislate from the bench. Libertarians are concerned that he will opt for an interpretation of the Constitution that favors the government over individual rights. Will Senator Rand Paul, who might well be the deciding vote in the Senate, be able to overlook past rulings on the Patriot Act and NSA surveillance? Will he decide that perfect is the enemy of good-enough, or will he find he has irreconcilable differences with Kavanaugh’s judicial philosophy when it comes to privacy versus security?
