Schumer, D-N.Y., who plans to meet Kavanaugh privately early this week, is methodically building arguments that would help vulnerable Democratic senators in conservative states vote “no,” while avoiding explicitly pressing them. But the party’s left wing says he’s not aggressively rallying Democratic lawmakers to oppose the nominee, thwarting the momentum needed to galvanize voters and maybe even win the uphill fight to block Kavanaugh.
“It’s really a test for Schumer,” said Elizabeth Beavers, associate policy director of Indivisible, an anti-Trump group. “Is he going to be the minority leader who lost Roe?” Roe v. Wade is the 1973 Supreme Court decision that established abortion rights.
“We’re looking to Sen. Schumer to unite the Democratic caucus to fight Kavanaugh,” said Ben Wikler, Washington director of the activist MoveOn.org. He said unless leaders unify the party and raise the battle’s visibility, the news media will focus on Trump nemeses like fired White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman and lawyer Michael Avenatti.
It’s the latest manifestation of the Democratic debate over how ideologically pure and confrontational the party’s strategies and candidates should be in resisting Trump. That battle has played out in Democratic congressional primaries around the country and in Congress, where left-wing lawmakers are pushing proposals like universal health care that other Democrats shun.
Democrats agree that Kavanaugh’s confirmation would tip the nine-member court to the right, which could threaten abortion rights and former President Barack Obama’s health care law.
Even so, the votes of three moderate Democratic senators facing difficult re-election races seem up for grabs: Indiana’s Joe Donnelly, West Virginian Joe Manchin and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. A few other Democrats are seen as uncertain, from Alabama and Florida, for example, while about 20 who are considered certain to oppose Kavanaugh haven’t declared their positions.
“It undermines our efforts when members of the public don’t see their elected leaders in Congress reacting with more fury,” said Brian Fallon, a former Schumer aide now heading Demand Justice, a Democratic-aligned liberal group trying to sink the nomination. Fallon said there is “urgent need for Democrats to unite quickly against Kavanaugh in order to shift the dynamic here.”
Republicans have a 50-49 Senate edge, excluding the absent and ailing Arizona Republican John McCain, so Democrats alone can’t stop a united GOP.
“Our job is to convince the American people he will undo women’s reproductive freedom and undo health care,” Schumer said in a brief interview when asked about liberals’ complaints about his efforts.
Abortion rights, environmental and other liberal groups applaud Schumer’s measured tactics, which have included Senate speeches and news conferences and frequent conference calls with outside organizations.
Liberal activists are adamant that Kavanaugh would be a vote against “Obamacare” on the bench, particularly in a coming case challenging protections for people with pre-existing conditions. But an Associated Press review in July of Kavanaugh’s decisions, other writings and speeches provided few clues about how he might rule on the law.
Schumer is also increasingly focused on the GOP’s refusal to request the release of millions of pages of documents from Kavanaugh’s three years as President George W. Bush’s staff secretary, which could reveal the nominee’s views on touchy subjects like torture of terrorist suspects, abortion and government eavesdropping.
Mindful of November elections in which Democrats have an outside chance of grabbing Senate control, Schumer seems to be giving his red-state senators space to back Kavanaugh if Republicans assure his confirmation by remaining united. It also makes sense because with moderates always trying to show their independence, “If the leadership tried to twist the arms of redder state senators, it would backfire,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.
Kavanaugh in memo pushed sex questions for Clinton
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh suggested that attorneys preparing to question President Bill Clinton in 1998 seek graphic details about the president’s sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
The questions are part of a memo in which Kavanaugh advised Independent Counsel Ken Starr and others not to give the president “any break” during questioning. He suggested Clinton be asked whether he had phone sex with Lewinsky and whether he performed specific sexual acts.
Kavanaugh worked on Starr’s team investigating Clinton. He said it may not be “our job to impose sanctions on him, but it is our job to make his pattern of revolting behavior clear — piece by painful piece.”
The memo was released on Monday by the National Archives and Records Administration. In the subject line, Kavanaugh asks, “Slack for the President?”
Kavanaugh goes on to answer the question with a resounding no.
He said he had tried to bend over backward to be fair to Clinton and to think of reasonable defenses for his behavior, but in the end, became convinced there were none. “The idea of going easy on him at the questioning is thus abhorrent to me,” Kavanaugh wrote.
He also accused Clinton of committing perjury, turning the Secret Service upside down, and trying to disgrace Starr and the independent counsel’s office with “a sustained propaganda campaign that would make Nixon blush.”
Kavanaugh in the memo states, “The president has disgraced his Office, the legal system, and the American people by having sex with a 22-year-old intern and turning her life into a shambles.”
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