Democrats are calling for an immediate halt to Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation process due to Trump being implicated in multiple felonies.
Video of Senate Democratic Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer:
Schumer said:
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A president, identified as an unindicted co-conspirator of a federal crime – an accusation made not by a political enemy but by the closest of his own confidants – is on the verge of making a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court. A court that may someday soon determine the extent of the president’s legal jeopardy.
In my view: the Senate Judiciary Committee should immediately pause the consideration of the Kavanaugh nomination. The majority of the Senate still has not seen the bulk of Judge Kavanaugh’s record. At the very least, the very least, it is unseemly for the President of the United States to be picking a Supreme Court Justice who could soon be, effectively, a juror in a case involving the president himself. In light of these facts, I believe Chairman Grassley has scheduled the hearing for Judge Kavanaugh too soon, and I’m calling on him to delay the hearing.
I know that Chairman Grassley and Leader McConnell hold all the cards in terms of scheduling hearings, but the plain facts of the case should compel them to the same conclusion that I have reached: the Judiciary Committee should postpone Judge Kavanaugh’s hearings.
At this moment in our nation’s history, the Senate should not confirm a man to the bench who believes that presidents are virtually beyond accountability, even in criminal cases. A man who believes that presidents are virtually above the law, and only Congress can check a president’s power. Over the past year, despite numerous abuses of presidential authority, despite numerous encroachments on the separation of powers, despite numerous attacks on the rule of law, this Republican Congress has done almost nothing to check this president. If Congress can be captured by one party’s deference to the president, we cannot allow the Supreme Court to be captured as well.
The doubts about Judge Kavanaugh’s fitness for the bench were just magnified by Mr. Cohen’s plea agreement. The prospect of the president being implicated in some criminal case is no longer a hypothetical that can be dismissed; it is very real. If Judge Kavanaugh truly believes that no sitting president, including President Trump, must answer for crimes he may or may not have committed, then he should not become Justice Kavanaugh, with the power to make those views manifest in our books of law.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) also called for a delay in the Kavanaugh nomination hearings, “In light of yesterday’s events, the Senate should delay hearings on Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. There must be checks and balances on this President. To that end, the Senate should be provided all necessary records related to Kavanaugh’s nomination, particularly those that indicate his views on executive power. Kavanaugh has been nominated for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court and would rule on any such case pertaining to the President. The Senate needs to fulfill its constitutional responsibilities and fully vet this nomination.â€
Kavanaugh is Trump’s get out of jail free card
No president that is under the sort of criminal cloud that is hovering above Donald Trump should have a Supreme Court justice confirmed. This is doubly true for a justice who will give the president a get out of jail free card. The Kavanaugh nomination could go down as Trump’s greatest criminal act in the White House and must be stopped for the sake of the nation’s future.
Trump can’t be allowed an escape hatch on the Supreme Court.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
