Schumer's Delaying Game on Judge Kavanaugh Will Fail

Democrats have not found a way to substantively oppose Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. So they are switching gears to delaying his confirmation to the Court until after October 1 when the new term starts. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has led an effort to stop Democrats from meeting with Kavanaugh:

Senate Democrats are largely giving Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh the brushoff, refusing the customary “courtesy visits” until Republicans agree to turn over voluminous documents from the Supreme Court nominee’s past.

In the two weeks since President Trump nominated him to succeed the retiring Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, Judge Kavanaugh has met with 23 Republicans, and not a single Democrat. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said in an interview Monday that he would not meet with Judge Kavanaugh until the top Republican and the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee reach agreement on what documents should be produced. . . .

“I have told my caucus that I’m waiting, and I think most of them are following me,” Mr. Schumer said.

Of course, Schumer’s wall is already cracking.  Senator Manchin of West Virginia has just agreed to meet with Kavanaugh:

Sen. Joe Manchin’s one-on-one meeting with SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh is officially on the books for July 30.

— Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) July 23, 2018

The stated reason for the delay is a ridiculous effort to get irrelevant documents from Kavanaugh’s time as Staff Secretary to President George W. Bush. These records are irrelevant as Kavanaugh has a long record as a judge to examine to decide how one will vote on him. Instead Democrats are focusing on irrelevant documents in an effort to delay. Senator Grassley in a tweet explained it well:

Kagan’s prez library docs were necessary to gain insight because she had ZERO experience as a judge and @SenJudiciary wasn’t fully provided Kagan’s SG records. On the contrary, the best indication of Judge Kavanaugh’s jurisprudence is his TWELVE years as a DC Circuit Court Judge.

— Senate Judiciary (@senjudiciary) July 24, 2018

Fortunately the Senate Majority Leader is Mitch McConnell not Chuck Schumer.  Leader McConnell won’t tolerate too much of this. 

McConnell on Democrats demanding Kavanaugh documents: I hope we can reach an agreement..We’re going to finish this nomination..There is no delaying tactic to take us past October 1

— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 24, 2018

Thank you, Leader McConnell.