Campaign Action
Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski are thus far filling their expected roles in the kabuki play that is Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court. They responded to the announcement with the expected pablum about how seriously they take their jobs and how qualified this nominee is.
"Judge Kavanaugh has impressive credentials and extensive experience, having served more than a decade on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals," read Collins' statement. "I will conduct a careful, thorough vetting of the President's nominee to the Supreme Court, as I have done with the five previous Supreme Court Justices whom I have considered. I look forward to Judge Kavanaugh's public hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee and to questioning him in a meeting in my office." Those five include Justice Neil Gorsuch, who we already know has happily upended one of Collins' criteria for a qualified justice—respecting long-standing precedent. By Collins' own criteria, her track record there on approving judges isn't very encouraging.
Murkowski, on the other hand, released a statement that didn't show her hand, and didn't laud the nomination. "While I have not met Judge Kavanaugh," she said, "I look forward to sitting down for a personal meeting with him." She continued, "I intend to review Judge Kavanaugh's decisions on the bench and writings off the bench, and pay careful attention to his responses to questions posed by my colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee." She added that she would consider the American Bar Association's analysis of Kavanaugh in her decision-making. "The American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Judiciary will also review Judge Kavanaugh's qualifications prior to these hearings and issue a rating." Finally, she says, "I intend to carefully consider that rating, the information obtained through personal meetings, my own review of Judge Kavanaugh's qualifications and record, and the views of Alaskans in determining whether or not to support him." So there's a job for Alaskans.
That this whole thing is a farce in which Collins and Murkowski have assigned roles is reinforced by the reporting Tuesday morning by NBC, when we learned that as far back as November pr*sident Trump was negotiating with retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy to install Kavanaugh.
The fix really seems to be in on this nomination, and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Trump are on the cusp of installing a Supreme Court that would undo decades of civil rights progress in this nation, for women, for people of color, for the LGBTQ community, for working people. All of the issues that Collins and Murkowski tout as critical to them in order to maintain their mantle as being the last standing moderates in the GOP. Here's the real test for them.
They stepped up once, to help John McCain defeat Trumpcare. If they want their stand against their leadership and against Trump on that to mean anything, to have any lasting resonance, they have oppose this nomination. They have to work with Democrats to stop it.
Do you live in Maine? You have a powerful voice in stopping Trump's Supreme Court nominee. Click here to write Sen. Collins.
Live in Alaska? You have the power. Sign and send a petition to Sen. Lisa Murkowski: Save Roe v. Wade. Oppose any anti-choice Supreme Court nominee.