Kavanaugh, having established his history of perjury, and a desire to kill Roe v. Wade, moves toward confirmation

I think a lot of people expected the Brett Kavanuagh nomination to be shit show, but I don’t think anyone expected it to go this poorly. As I understand it, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned Donald Trump at the outset that, if he were to nominate Kavanaugh, it would be difficult, given his considerable baggage. Trump, however, wanted Kavanaugh… likely because, of the 25 candidates he’d been given to chose from, Kavanaugh was the only one who had stated explicitly that sitting presidents should not be subject to criminal investigation or prosecution… so here were are, watching the GOP attempt to jam through a nominee who appears, among other things, to be liar.

This past week, there were at least four different news stories about lies that had been told, sometimes under oath, by Kavanaugh.

First, there was the story of Kavanaugh’s lying under oath back in 2004 about his involvement in the nomination of William H. Pryor, a controversial anti-abortion rights judge, to the Federal Appeals Court. Kavanaugh testified at the time that he had nothing to do with the Pryor nomination. And we now know that was a lie. As for why Kavanaugh might have lied about helping to shepherd the Pryor nomination through the process when he worked in the George W. Bush administration, it could have something to do with the fact that Pryor had called Roe v. Wade the “worst abomination in the history of constitutional law”… Here, courtesy of Senator Patrick Leahy, is a little archival footage.

Second… as long as we’re on the subject of Roe v. Wade… it looks as though Kavanaugh has been lying not only about his role in helping to place anti-abortion activists on the bench, but about his own believes on whether or not the Supreme Court could revisit the ruling that made abortion legal across the United States. As you may recall, early in the process, Kavanaugh told Senator Susan Collins, a pro-choice Republican, that, in his opinion, Roe v. Wade is “settled law,” with the implication, of course, being that he wouldn’t attempt to revisit the decision as a Justice on the Supreme Court. As we learned a few days ago, though, Kavanaugh has expressed a much different opinion privately. In an email that the Republicans had been attempting to keep hidden, Kavanagh wrote in 2003, “I am not sure that all legal scholars refer to Roe as the settled law of the land at the Supreme Court level since Court [sic] can always overrule its precedent, and three current Justices on the Court would do so.” So, clearly he doesn’t believe there’s anything keeping the Supreme Court from striking down the Roe decision, no matter what he may say to people like Collins, who are looking for anything at all that they might be able to use to justify a vote in favor of his confirmation.

Third, it looks as though Kavanaugh has been lying about what he knew of the Bush administration’s controversial, and some would argue illegal, warrantless wiretapping and detainee interrogation (torture) programs… Here’s a clip from the New York Times.

…Then there are the persistent doubts about his truthfulness in telling senators in 2006 that he had no knowledge of Mr. Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program or his detainee treatment policy — claims that have been called into question by yet more emails, which showed he knew about both of those things years before they became public.

As Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois told Judge Kavanaugh on Thursday, “You say that words matter. You claim to be a textualist when you interpret other people’s words, but you don’t want to be held accountable for the plain meaning of your own words”…

And, fourth, it would appear as though Kavanaugh has again lied under oath when discussing whether or not, while working to confirm Bush’s nominees for the federal court, he had received confidential letters and memos stolen from Democratic staffers by GOP Senate aide Manuel Miranda…. In 2004, Senator Orrin Hatch asked Kavanaugh directly if he had received “any documents that appeared to you to have been drafted or prepared by Democratic staff members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.” Kavanaugh unequivocally that he had not. Again, however, we now know that to have been a lie… As Senator Patrick Leahy has said, it was “untruthful testimony, under oath, and on the record.” And, sadly, it would appear as though it doesn’t matter to Senate Republicans.

Again, I don’t know how much we can realistically do to stop it, given that the Republicans currently hold 51 seats in the Senate to the Democrats’ 49, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t fight like hell, in hopes that, maybe, just maybe, we’re able to get pro-choice Republicans like Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska to defect on this issue, like they did on the Republican health care bill last year. I know it’s incredibly unlikely, but we have to at least try. [Assuming we can get every Senate Democrat to vote against Kavanaugh, we’d still need two Republicans to cross over, as, if we just got one, Vice President Pence would be called on to break the tie and cast the deciding vote.]

Who knows what Susan Collins really cares about, but she did go on the record in early July of this year, stating that she, “would not support a nominee who demonstrated hostility to Roe v. Wade,” and we should hold her to it. She also said that she viewed abortion as a “constitutional right,” and would vote accordingly… Maybe it was bullshit. Maybe it’s just something that she said to get the support women voters. And maybe a few of them will take her at her word when she says that Kavanaugh told her that Roe v. Wade was “settled law.” I suspect, though, that a great many more won’t. And we’re already seeing evidence of that.

As of today, we’re told that 3,000 coat hangers have been mailed to the offices of Senator Collins by pro-choice voters. More importantly, tough, over 30,00 people have come together online to pledge $860,891 toward the campaign of her Democratic opponent in 2020, should she decide to vote in favor of Kavanaugh… Here some of the donors are, talking about the campaign.

Will it be enough? I suspect not. But I love the fact that people in Maine and Alaska are once again going after Collins and Murkowski, urging them to stand up on behalf of women (and those who value truth) in their state. It’s good to see, especially now, as we’re headed into the midterms.

If you know anyone… and I mean anyone… in Maine or Alaska, please have them find a local office for either Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski, and call today. Or, better yet, have them drop by one of their offices in person to drop off a few hangers.

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12 Comments

  1. Posted September 9, 2018 at 10:22 pm | Permalink

    Oh, one last thing… In case you might have missed it, this has been one of my favorite exchanges during the Kavanaugh hearings.

  2. Kat
    Posted September 10, 2018 at 7:11 am | Permalink

    I’d like to think that Collins and Murkowski could be moved, but I’m not seeing it. Neither one of them has the courage to stand up and stop this from happening. They didn’t stand up and fight when Garland’s seat was stolen, and they won’t do so now.

  3. wobblie
    Posted September 10, 2018 at 7:39 am | Permalink

    If the Democrats have any spine, when they get a majority they will impeach him for perjury.

  4. anonymous
    Posted September 10, 2018 at 7:41 am | Permalink

    A lot of the best organizing against Murkoski on this issue is being done by the Native people of Alaska.

    Here is a link:

    https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lisa-murkowski-brett-kavanaugh-native-alaska_us_5b92bed6e4b0511db3e20921?yo

    Here is an excerpt:

    Advocates for Alaska Natives, who were crucial to Murkowski’s re-election in 2010, tell HuffPost they’ve been flooding her office all week and urging her to oppose Kavanaugh.

    They’re raising concerns about his record on climate change, which is already causing real damage in Alaska. As a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Kavanaugh in 2017 held that the Environmental Protection Agency lacks the authority to regulate hydrofluorocarbons, chemicals linked to global warming. They’re also unhappy with his record on voting rights. Kavanaugh voted in 2012 to uphold a South Carolina voter ID law that disenfranchised more than 80,000 minority registered voters.

    The most pressing matter, however, is a case the Supreme Court is reviewing on Nov. 5 that could devastate Alaska Natives’ subsistence fishing rights. The case, Sturgeon v. Frost, raises questions about who has the authority to regulate water in national parks in the state ― the federal government or the state of Alaska. The case arose after Alaska resident John Sturgeon, who was on an annual moose-hunting trip, was riding a hovercraft on a river running through a national park when Park Service officials threatened to give him a citation. Sturgeon is arguing that his ability to use his hovercraft in this scenario is about states’ rights and that federal authority should be eliminated.

    Kavanaugh has previously ruled to limit federal power in cases before him. If he gets confirmed and votes with the other four right-leaning justices in favor of Sturgeon’s argument, it will destroy the way of life for tribal communities who rely on subsistence fishing in protected federal waters, some Alaska Native rights groups say.

  5. Portland Press Herald
    Posted September 10, 2018 at 8:36 am | Permalink

    Portland Press Herald columnist: Kavanaugh “is the vote on which Sen. Susan Collins’ legacy will hinge”.

    https://www.pressherald.com/2018/09/09/bill-nemitz-collins-comes-to-the-crossroads-on-kavanaugh/

  6. LL
    Posted September 10, 2018 at 3:00 pm | Permalink

    Lying is the new normal.

    Quinnipiac Poll on whether Americans believe Trump is honest

    yes: 32%

    no: 60%

  7. maddie
    Posted September 10, 2018 at 3:09 pm | Permalink

    Thank you, Mark. A sensible approach. Neither was on the Judiciary Committee so there may be information related to the hearings that we should make sure they have. This includes inconsistencies in testimony and relevant information from the panels who testified.

  8. Elliott
    Posted September 10, 2018 at 3:29 pm | Permalink

    You can also call the Senate switchboard and ask to be connected with the offices of Collins and Murkowski; 1 (202) 225-3121.

  9. Kim
    Posted September 10, 2018 at 8:21 pm | Permalink

    It looks like the Kavanaugh vote is scheduled to happen on Thursday.

    MSNBC: “The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a vote for Thursday on the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh.”

  10. Kim
    Posted September 11, 2018 at 8:07 pm | Permalink

    She doesn’t have problems taking corporate PAC money, but she sees the grassroots campaign to fund her competitor as a “bribe.”

    Collins calls crowdfunding to get her to oppose Kavanaugh a “bribe” http://hill.cm/VGQlEyE

  11. TexSizzle
    Posted October 3, 2018 at 10:06 am | Permalink

    Lies. See https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/09/brett-kavanaugh-confirmation-perjury-claims-totally-baseless/ for the truth about these scurrilous charges.

  12. Kat
    Posted October 3, 2018 at 9:31 pm | Permalink

    Video compilation of Kavanaugh’s lies.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=9&v=_npCsAzG88c

2 Trackbacks

  1. […] a focus group of independent female voters in Maine, doesn’t really threaten Collins, like the grassroots “Be a Hero, Or We Will Replace You” campaign that we discussed yesterday, but instead praises the Senator for her courage in the past, while […]

  2. […] prestigious D.C. boys school Georgetown Prep at the time, has proclaimed his innocence, but, given his history of lying under oath, and the fact that Blasey Ford has come forward with both the results of a polygraph test, and […]

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