CBS – Tuesday marks the first day of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, as Republicans aim to swiftly confirm President Trump’s second Supreme Court nominee and Democrats demand more answers and more time.
The hearing is expected to be grueling, as Democrats insist on obtaining and reviewing more records from Kavanaugh’s tenure in the George W. Bush administration, and question whether he believes a sitting president can be indicted. Some Democrats have called for a delay in a vote on the nominee until after November’s midterm elections. Republicans, on the other hand, largely satisfied with Kavanaugh and looking for another win before the November midterms, want a speedy confirmation process.
The hearing begins at 9:15 a.m.
Kavanaugh confirmation hearing live updates:
Sasse slams Kavanaugh opponents’ “drivel” as “patently absurd”
Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Nebraska, said that “deranged” comments about Kavanaugh’s record have nothing to do with him and that senate confirmation hearings have not worked for over 30 years in America.
Sasse said the “hysteria” around Supreme Court confirmation hearings “comes from a fundamental misunderstanding” of the role the high court has in American life. He said the public has grown to expect an overblown “circus” of a hearing.
The Republican slammed Democrats’ “90 minutes of theatrics” as showing “us a system widely out of whack.”
Klobuchar: “Our Democracy is on trial”
“Our democracy is on trial,” Sen. Klobuchar warned. “To weather this storm the nation’s highest court must serve as a ballast in this turbulent times,” she added, suggesting that the next Supreme Court pick must be “fair, impartial and unwavering.”
Klobuchar said President Trump’s repeated attacks on his own Justice Department “have made me pause and think many times about why I decided to come to the senate….and go into law in the first place.”
Kavanaugh confirmation returns to session
Grassley thanked Kavanaugh for returning from recess in a timely manner. The chairman gaveled-in shortly after 1:17 p.m. to restart the hearing.
Kavanaugh hearing breaks for short recess
Upon conclusion of Sen. Cruz’s remarks, Chairman Grassley called for a break in the confirmation hearing, warning Kavanaugh to “be on time please.”
Ted Cruz on Democrats complaints: “What’s all the fuss”
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said that the over half million documents that have been turned over to the senate account for “more than the last five nominees submitted to this committee combined.”
Cruz said Democrats are making a demand “they know is impossible to meet and irrelevant to what Kavanaugh thinks, believes or has said.”
The senator instead suggested his democratic colleagues’ effort to “distract and delay” on Tuesday is an effort to “re-litigate the 2016 presidential election.”
Durbin calls Democratic opposition the “noise of democracy”
“What we’ve heard is the noise of democracy,” Durbin said of Democrats’ and protesters pleas to adjourn the hearing.
“It is not mob rule,” he argued, saying that while at times the hearing so far has been “uncomfortable” for Kavanaugh and his family present, it “represents what we are about in this democracy.”
Durbin also noted that being the nominee of President Trump shows he’s the “personal choice” of someone who has “shown us consistently he’s contemptuous of rule of law.”
Leahy to Kavanaugh: “You shouldn’t be sitting in front of us”
“Mr. Kavanaugh, you shouldn’t be sitting in front of us today,” said Sen. Leahy citing incomplete reviews of the judge’s record. “Your vetting is 10 percent complete.”
“Judge Kavanaugh, there’s so many things wrong with this committee’s vetting of your record it’s hard to know where to begin…I never thought the committee would sink to this,” he added.
Leahy called the hearing “the most incomplete, most partisan, least transparency for any Supreme Court nominee I have ever seen and I have seen more of those than any person serving in the senate today.”
Orrin Hatch defends Kavanaugh as “most distinguished”
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who impressively pointed out to the committee that he has participated in the confirmation process for every justice currently on the Supreme Court, said that Democrats are trying to “paint you as one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.”
He called Kavanaugh one of the “most distinguished judges” on the court today, with a “sterling character” of integrity and sound judgement, saying he was “unquestionably qualified” for his role on the Supreme Court.
After lengthy delay, Grassley begins opening statements
Following over an hour-long delay prompted by Democrats looking to move the confirmation, Sen. Grassley finally began his opening statement for Kavanaugh’s hearing.
Grassley said that expects “Judge Kavanaugh will follow the example set by [Justice Ruth Bader] Ginsburg, and all the nominees that followed her, that a nominee should offer ‘no hints, no forecasts, no previews’ on how they will vote” on the Supreme Court bench.
The chairman called Kavanaugh “one of the most qualified nominees – if not the most qualified nominee -I have seen.”
In a jab at Democrats, Grassley said that Americans have had “unprecedented access and more materials to review for Judge Kavanaugh than they ever had for a Supreme Court nominee. And to support the review of Judge Kavanaugh’s historic volume of material, I’ve worked to ensure that more Senators have more access to more material than ever.”
Cornyn: Hearing running by “mob rule”
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, argued that “this is the first confirmation hearing subject to mob rule” as Democrats continue to shift the focus off of Kavanaugh and onto outstanding document requests.
“I’ve been accused of having a mob rule session… if we have a mob rule session it’s because the chairman is not running the committee properly,” said Grassley. “This is the same Chuck Grassley that ran the [Neil] Gorsuch hearings,” he pointed out, citing Democrats’ claims how well-run that previous hearing was.
In contrast, Sen. Leahy told his colleagues that he’s “sorry to see the Senate Judiciary Committee descend this way.”
“I felt privileged to serve here under Republican and Democratic leadership for over 40 years. This is not the Senate Judiciary Committee I saw when I came to the U.S. Senate,” he added.
Grassley informed the body that due to delays, Kavanaugh will likely be heard from later than 2:30 p.m.
Grassley calls Democrats’ motion to adjourn “out of order”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal said the confirmation process will be “tainted and stained forever” if they are not allowed to move to postpone the hearing in an executive session of the senate. Grassley responded several times: “The motion is out of order.”
CBS News’ Nancy Cordes reports that a source familiar with the discussions confirms that Sen. Schumer held a conference call with Judiciary Committee democrats over the Labor Day weekend to discuss the strategy they are now deploying in a coordinated manner, interrupting the start of the hearing to call – one after the other – for a delay in the proceedings until senators get all the Kavanaugh documents they want and have time to read them.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, cited this reporting in the hearing in an attempt to undermine Democrats’ arguments.
Feinstein cites Trump’s “serious problems” at start of hearing
Ranking member Sen. Dianne Feinstein said that besides the argument over documents, Kavanaugh comes to the Senate with a backdrop of political turmoil and frustration in the country and the White House. Feinstein said the Senate is looking at whether Kavanaugh is “within the mainstream of American legal opinion and will he do the right thing by the constitution.”
Feinstein said the Senate has instead cast aside tradition for speed with regards of the vetting process of the nominee.
“Give us the time to do our work so we can have a positive and comprehensive hearing on the man who may well be the deciding vote for many of America’s futures,” said Feinstein.
At start of hearing, Democrats call for confirmation to be moved
Democrats including Sens. Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar and Richard Blumenthal interrupted Chairman Chuck Grassley’s opening statements, calling for the hearing to be moved due to Democrats’ argument that they have not been given adequate time or access to documents to review Kavanaugh’s fitness for the bench.
“We have not been given the opportunity to have a meaningful hearing on the nominee,” said Harris. Blumenthal argued that the lack of access to documents “turns this hearing into a charade and mockery of our norms.”
Democrat Corey Booker meanwhile called for debate on the issue, asking Grassley “what is the rush” on Kavanaugh’s confirmation. “What are we hiding by not letting those documents come out” to the public Booker inquired. Sen. Durbin echoed, urging the Senate to take a “few days or weeks” to have a complete review of Judge Kavanaugh’s record, adding that not doing so is “unfair to the American people.”
As of late Monday, the Senate had been given an additional 42,000 pages of documents about Kavanaugh, according to Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York.
The White House said Friday that it would not be releasing 100,000 Kavanaugh’s records from the Bush White House on the basis of presidential privilege.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, said it was the first time in his 44 years in Congress that there has been such a claim of executive privilege, saying it “just puts everything under doubt. What are we trying to hide, we are we rushing?”
As Democrats made their case, protesters seated inside the chamber began shouting to stop the hearing making for a chaotic first few moments of Kavanaugh’s appearance before the Senate.
Kavanaugh arrives for hearing
Shortly after 9:30 a.m., Kavanaugh entered the chamber to begin his first day of confirmation hearings.
DOJ’s Rod Rosenstein at Kavanaugh hearing
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is seated near the front of the Kavanaugh hearing on Tuesday. According to the DOJ, Kavanaugh and Rosenstein are friends going years back.
Tuesday hearing’s schedule of events
Kavanaugh’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee begins with a round of opening statements from Committee members and from Kavanaugh himself who will be introduced by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Arnold & Porter partner Lisa Blatt.
Members will be allowed roughly 10 minutes of time to speak on Kavanaugh’s fitness for confirmation. Questioning of Kavanaugh will begin on Wednesday.
Kavanaugh: “I’m a pro-law judge”
In excerpts of Kavanaugh’s prepared remarks released by the White House ahead of Tuesday’s first hearing, the judge is expected to make the case that he will remain a “neutral and impartial arbiter who favors no litigant or policy.”
“A good judge must be an umpire,” Kavanaugh said in prepared remarks. “I don’t decide cases based on personal or policy preferences. I am not a pro-plaintiff or pro-defendant judge. I am not a pro-prosecution or pro-defense judge. I am a pro-law judge.”
“If confirmed to the Court, I would be part of a Team of Nine, committed to deciding cases according to the Constitution and laws of the United States. I would always strive to be a team player on the Team of Nine,” Kavanaugh adds in excerpts released.
Kavanaugh also makes note of former President Barack Obama’s one-time pick to the court, Judge Merrick Garland. “I have served with 17 other judges, each of them a colleague and a friend, on a court now led by our superb chief judge, Merrick Garland.” Garland’s own nomination to the high court was effectively blocked by Senate Republicans in Obama’s final year in office.
What to watch for
The confirmation hearing process is expected to last much longer than one day. Here are some things to watch for during the back-and-forth of questioning.
Senators to watch
Senators to watch for: Keep an eye on questions and reactions from senators who are vulnerable this fall. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Indiana, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-North Dakota, and Sen. Clare McCaskill, D-Missouri, have yet to say whether they will support Kavanaugh.
Executive power
Democrats are sure to ask hammer Kavanaugh with questions about whether he believes a sitting president can be indicted, particularly after former longtime Trump lawyer Michael Cohen alleged that Mr. Trump directed him to take actions that violated campaign finance law.
In 2009, Kavanaugh seemed to suggest that presidents should be immune from criminal prosecutions and investigations until after leaving office, writing, “I believe it vital that the president be able to focus on his never-ending tasks with as few distractions as possible.”
Abortion
Kavanaugh’s views on abortion are documented but still unclear. He has approved some restrictions on abortion, such as for an underage undocumented immigrant who wanted one. But he also gives much weight to precedent. After meeting with Kavanaugh lsat month, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Kavanaugh assured her that he views Roe v. Wade as “settled law.”
Source: US Government Class
