The cartoon below shows exactly why the Democrats hate Kavanaugh, or literally any Supreme Court nominee President Trump would have nominated.
Exactly!
Democrats despise Kavanaugh because they know he’s a constitutionalist and will issue rulings in line with the meaning of that important and essential governing document.
That’s what they fear most.
Democrats prefer judges that take a more “elastic” and activist view of the law, so long as those views align with theirs.
Sadly, for Democrats at least, President Trump’s Supreme Court pick just took huge step toward confirmation with the tacit endorsement of the Senate’s two pro-choice Republican members.
Speaking to Politico, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Maine’s Susan Collins both think President Trump could have “done a lot worse” than Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
The two “centrist” senators wouldn’t say if they would vote “yes” or “no” on his appointment, but the pick of Kavanaugh seems designed to woo over the two senators more than a more conservative pick like 7th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Amy Coney Barrett or another equally conservative nominee.
“Let’s put it this way: There were some who have been on the list that I would have had a very, very difficult time supporting, just based on what was already publicly known about them,” Murkowski (R-Alaska) said in an interview on Monday. “We’re not dealing with that.”
Collins (R-Maine) told reporters that while she wouldn’t directly compare Kavanaugh with Barrett, she touted Kavanaugh’s experience and sounded warm notes about him while insisting she has yet to decide.
“It will be very difficult for anyone to argue that he’s not qualified for the job. He clearly is qualified for the job,” Collins said.
“But there are other issues involving judicial temperament and his political, or rather, his judicial philosophy that also will play into my decision.”
To top it off, both senators voted for Kavanaugh’s nomination to the D.C. Circuit Court in 2006.
All Republicans need is a simple majority to confirm Kavanaugh.
While Arizona Sen. John McCain is out recovering from brain cancer, there are 50 Republican votes in the Senate. A “no” vote from either Murkowski or Collins would throw the nomination into doubt.
Conservative supporters of Kavanaugh are hoping that his confirmation could lead to the overturn of Roe v. Wade, but Republican senators seemed comfortable that the two female, pro-choice lawmakers would back him anyway.
Instead of facing off against a judge they mighty view as too ideological, Collins and Murkowski and other centrists have a different problem:
Sorting through Kavanaugh’s 12-year record on the federal bench and hundreds of thousands of pages of documents from his time in the George W. Bush administration and his work with independent counsel Kenneth Starr during the Bill Clinton presidency.
“That’s kind of a good news/bad news with him. Good news is that there is a lot to look at it,” Murkowski said. “Bad news is there is a lot to look at.”
Murkowski’s most important issues are overregulation, abortion rights and gun ownership rights. Collins said she does not apply an “ideological test” to their views, but mentioned parts of Obamacare that she would like to retain. Democrats have said that Kavanaugh’s appointment could mean another vote to throw out the Affordable Care Act.