Just called both of my senators to urge them to vote against Trump’s wingnut SCOTUS nominee. I feel confident that Rubio will vote YES and Nelson will vote NO and Kavanaugh will be confirmed anyway. That’s what happens when people 1) don’t vote, 2) are prevented from voting, or 3) consider their franchise a form of performance art.
That said, I was encouraged that I wasn’t able to get through to an intern and had to leave a message for both senators. That means people are calling. Maybe give your senators a jingle too? The US Capitol has a main switchboard that will connect you if you don’t have your senator in your contacts list. The number is (202) 224-3121.
Open thread.
UPDATE:
WATCH: Sens. Harris, Klobuchar and Blumenthal interject as Sen. Grassley attempts to begin SCOTUS nominee Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing pic.twitter.com/fPowXWbMl3
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) September 4, 2018
Good for them!
rikyrah
Uh huh
Is there a doctor in the house?
If Black, think twice before following that Hippocratic Oath??
Damn, we can’t even be Good Samaritans ?
https://twitter.com/keithboykin/status/1036965160987049984
gen108
NPR is carrying the hearing live. There are protesters in the galleries, and they are loud. Democrats on the committee are pissed off at Grassley, and three of them questioned him as to the irregular nature of why documents were not released.
Grassley responded with a big fuck you to the Democrats, by saying Ginsberg’s ACLU work was protected by attorney client privilege, Sotamoyor’s work for Biden was protected by attorney client privilege, and something something about Obama exerting Executive Privilege regarding Fast and Furious hearings.
And Grassley then concluded by declaring Kavanaugh will be the next Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
Yutsano
Both my Senators will be nos, but maybe I’ll slip a note under Maria’s door just to ensure her. It helps her office is right next door to mine at work.
Corner Stone
This whole hearing is a complete shitshow. I don’t know who is working the sameras for MSNBC but s/he obviously went to the Bruckheimer School for Quick Cuts and Off Angles.
rikyrah
Maddow visited Kavanaugh’s work in the case of the pregnant immigrant teenager who was trying to get an abortion while in custody.
Hint, he was trying to delay the case until she was too far along to get an abortion.?
Kavanaugh behavior on bench suggests opposition to Roe v. Wade https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/kavanaugh-behavior-on-bench-suggests-opposition-to-roe-v-wade-1312251459701 via @msnbc
OzarkHillbilly
On the title, I prefer Kava-naaaaahhhhhhh.
ruemara
And the hearing has devolved into a shitshow. Thank you, Dems. Thank you, protesters.
rikyrah
U.S. women see reason to reject Trump SCOTUS pick Brett Kavanaugh https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/u-s-women-see-reason-to-reject-trump-scotus-pick-brett-kavanaugh-1312253507647 via @msnbc
JGabriel
Betty Cracker @ Top:
It’s a long shot, but I’m hoping Murkowski or Flake will vote NO. Flake might do it just to give Trump the finger on his way out the door. I think Murkowski might be genuinely concerned about Kavanaugh’s record on women’s issues, and vote NO on that basis, though I suppose it’s likely that Collins will convince her to vote YES despite such concerns.
rikyrah
New hearing revives question of whether Kavanaugh lied under oath https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/new-hearing-revives-question-of-whether-kavanaugh-lied-under-oath-1312248387964 via @msnbc
germy
Kavan hell naw.
zhena gogolia
The days when poor Harriet Miers got canned because of negative reaction are over, my friends. These Repubs are shameless.
hueyplong
GOP will ram through the FU nomination because that’s their mode now.
Gotta overwhelm them in November.
And then get really, really punitive. I’m pretty sure there are a lot of GOP officeholders who would not thrive in a first contact with investigative scrutiny, and not just the mirror licker in the White House.
Betty Cracker
Just updated the post with a clip from the hearings. Good for Senators Harris, Klobuchar and Blumenthal for interrupting this charade, and bonus points for doing it when Grassley was droning on about how exciting this must all be for Kavanaugh’s family.
tesslibrarian
I called Senators Perdue and Isakson this morning and my call went right through to a person–it didn’t even ring more than a couple times, which was disappointing.
While talking to Perdue’s person, I ended with, “I am sure the Senator doesn’t care about my opinion because I disagree with him, but he should know what the people he is supposed to represent think.” The kid said, “You bet. I’ll pass that on.”
So, yeah, calling Senators is good, but wow does it feel disenfranchising in Georgia. (And Perdue isn’t up for election until 2020. ?)
satby
@hueyplong: this.
Investigate, prosecute when corruption or perjury is found, impeach.
gen108
@zhena gogolia:
The glorious plan of Republicans constituents, i.e. their billionaire paymasters, in creating an oligarchy in America, where the rich accrue all the wealth and everyone else fights for scraps, cannot be completed with shame or the respect for the rule of law.
Republicans are a radical right-wing revolutionary party, and should be thought of as that. Seating Kavanaugh furthers the revolution and furthering the revolution is all that matters.
low-tech cyclist
Vox has a tracker that says who’s already said they’ll support or oppose Kavanaugh, and who’s still officially undecided.
The remaining (official) undecideds are: Susan Collins (R-ME), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Doug Jones (D-AL), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Bill Nelson (D-FL), and Jon Tester (D-MT).
So if you’re represented by one of them, make especially sure to let your feelings be known.
But if you’re not, call anyway. I live in Maryland, and both my Senators have said they’re voting No on Kavanaugh. I’ve called them to thank them.
Corner Stone
@rikyrah: In that whole tragic event, Kavanaugh comes across as petty and really mean spirited. He had the lower court’s ruling that the teen was competent to make her decision but he still sought a “sponsor” which he knew would be impossible to find in time, if ever. He wanted to force the birth, no matter what the courts and law at the time stated.
Another Scott
Thanks for this thread. It’s good that the Democrats aren’t going easily.
IANAL, but I occasionally remind myself that the US Congress can restrict the jurisdiction of the SCOTUS. It would be delicious if they insist on ramming Kavanaugh through and then the next Congress restricts SCOTUS jurisdiction – “can no longer rule on abortion or reproductive freedom cases” or some such.
Dunno how it would work in practice, but we have to start thinking outside the box if these monsters are insisting on doing what they want no mater the rules, the laws, the Constitution, or the norms.
Grr…
Cheers,
Scott.
Anotherlurker
I called Rubio and Senator Nelson. It went to voice mail on both calls.
I might have been a little to emphatic in my call to Rubio when I asked him to do the right thing, for once in his political life, and vote No on confirmation of Kavanaugh.
Spanky
@gen108: Do you need to maybe buy a vowel for your nym there?
Like ltc, I’m in Maryland, so no chance that Cardin or van Hollen would vote for K-naw.
germy
So when Kananaugh was being prepped, rehearsing for these hearings, his handlers even included fake “protestors” to the rehearsal, so he’d be prepared.
I noticed his throat got dry when Kamala Harris started talking. He reached for his little water bottle real quick.
oatler.
I hope the Dems get physical. LIke with tire irons. This is a GOP coup.
mousebumples
I called my Wisconsin Senators, and it went through to voice mail both times. Super glad I called Tammy’s line first since the script I was reading off of wasn’t voice mail ready, and I stumbled a few times. Found a decent script on Gabby Gifford’s site that I adapted for my purposes (i.e. I’m concerned about more than just Kavanaugh’s gun record) and mostly just read that off for Senator Johnson. I’m hoping that it just went through to voice mail because the phone lines are overwhelmed. *fingers crossed*
Thanks for the reminder to call. I should do it more often, but life tends to get in the way.
Cacti
The fix is in.
And it’s in so safely that Trump felt secure enough to state openly yesterday that the DOJ should be excusing Republican criminality.
germy
Do the people yelling from the audience help or hurt?
Ksmiami
@gen108: as I’ve said before if the Supreme Court ceases to be for the American ppl, we the people can fucking dissolve it. Bye bitches. Ps there are no good Republicans. Wall them off.
dww44
@tesslibrarian: I’ve already called both of them once last week;I will call again today. Will also encourage others to call via Indivisible Group to see if we can make those phone lines a bit busier.
germy
@Cacti: Since the repubs have learned to weaponize our causes against us (for example: basic decency, the metoo movement, fake news) will PEETUS respond to a blue wave by declaring the elections were tampered with? He has already claimed that Russia “wanted Hillary to win” so I wonder if he’ll blame the blue wave on the Russians or the Chinese…
Anotherlurker
@Anotherlurker: “too emphatic…”
BC in Illinois
@low-tech cyclist:
I just called Claire McCaskill’s office. Couldn’t get through. Left a message.
Called her St Louis office. Couldn’t get through. Left a message.
Message was.
1) Has she declared a position?
2) My position is, no way on Kavanaugh.
3) We don’t need a Trump defender on the S Court.
4) We don’t need someone who was part of GWB’s administration of torture on the S Court.
5) I am disappointed that C McCaskill hasn’t declared her opposition to Kavanaugh.
6) I will still support her in November, but damn . . .
Something like that.
catclub
@hueyplong:
except, why the hell is that Flake’s mode now, also Collins, Murkowski and Corker’s way now?
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker:
I love looking at Kavanaugh’s face during that. If he were a man of integrity he would tell Grassley to postpone the hearing. He’s a hack of the first water. But we knew that.
prostratedragon
Those perfidious Democrats, planning their strategy together in advance and shit.
germy
– Scott Lemieux
catclub
@Ksmiami:
It would be delicious if instead of packing the court, the democrats reduced the number of seats and dropped off the most recent new members.
I would also like a pony.
Betty Cracker
@Cacti: He couldn’t have laid his cards on the table any more clearly than that.
germy
Kavanaugh mentioned Garland during his opening statement? I didn’t see it. Did he laugh like Mutley while he did it?
low-tech cyclist
@zhena gogolia:
People forget that Miers got dropped because of opposition from the right. They weren’t sufficiently sure she’d be a reliable vote for all right-wing causes, so she had to go.
Adam L Silverman
Not to step on BettyC’s post, but I just put the live feed of the hearings up on the front page.
Adam L Silverman
And the protestors are back! And it sounds like they’re in the back of the room.
MomSense
I fucking love Kamala Harris.
low-tech cyclist
@Another Scott:
IANAL either, but I’ve never bought into the notion that that language in Article III was about anything but deciding which sort of jurisdiction (original or appellate) the Supreme Court had in a given case. The notion that the Supreme Court could be de-Supremed by denying jurisdiction to it altogether makes no sense to me.
JGabriel
@germy:
It’s not really about convincing anyone at this point; it’s about delaying the hearings and the vote.
So, on that basis, yeah, it probably helps.
Ksmiami
@catclub: I fail to see how this ends without violence – maybe not today but as the gop vision comes to full view they are asking for it and wealth will be very little protection
H.E.Wolf
@oatler.:
Advocating violence in support of a political viewpoint is a mistake, no matter who advocates for it.
Channel that anger into actual, real-world efforts to get out the Democratic vote in 2 months.
And remember: Judges can be impeached and removed from office… if we elect enough lawmakers who will do so.
Aleta
Questions.
1. Why isn’t it a conflict of interest for William Burck, the lawyer representing members of the Trump administration in the Mueller investigation (in Jan. said to represent Reince Priebus and Don McGahn; in Feb. said to also rep. Bannon) to make a decision about documents related to the Trump admin. nominee?
2. He is said to be acting as GW Bush’s private lawyer — does this mean that Bush can direct him to release or not release? Durbin said ‘who is he, who is paying him’ — but can’t Bush also be called out in public as responsible for this decision? (Even though he’s probably being paid by political operatives, isn’t Bush still on the line for this?)
3. But it seems Trump is also involved in the decision. (‘ ‘ Trump has claimed executive privilege to prevent release of more than 101,921 pages of records from Kavanaugh’s tenure in the White House. ‘ ‘ ) Since two administrations are involved; why is there no independent review team instead of one lawyer with ties to one administration?
‘ ‘ Kavanaugh, as “an associate and senior associate White House counsel, dealt with some of the most sensitive communications of any White House official,” including deliberations on judicial candidates, Burck said in a letter to the committee Friday. ‘ ‘
‘ ‘ In the letter to Grassley, Burck said lawyers working on behalf of the former president would determine at a later date which of the documents are “appropriate for public release.” ‘ ‘
So the work is not done. Postpone the fcking hearings. !!
–Quotes from the Wa Post
Montanareddog
@satby:
it is unlikely this nomination can be detailed. I hope the Den senators can play a long game. Get K-no on the record with answers to factual questions about his past activities in the Starr chamber and the Shrub WH. That provides the basis for impeachment if he can be proven to have lied once the Dems have subpoena power.
Montanareddog
@Montanareddog: derailed, not detailed
mr gravity
@catclub: Kompromat – it’s a hell of a drug.
Walker
@rikyrah:
This is one thing I am curious about. I don’t have a lot of faith that confirmation this will be stopped. But if he really did lie under oath, is this an impeachable offense for when we have a different Senate? Not so much wishful thinking as just curious.