Tag: Judge Brett Kavanaugh

Dr. Carol M. Swain Commentary: Politico’s Claim That ‘God is Laughing at Brett Kavanaugh’ Demonstrates Publication’s Bias Against Christians and Conservatives

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Carol Swain

by Dr. Carol M. Swain   When did America’s standard of justice erode to the point where we automatically presume innocence for women who make strategically timed sexual allegations against successful men at pivotal times in their careers? Under the new “ends justify means” politics, there is no standard of proof, no statute of limitations, and no real consequences for telling politically-motivated lies. In fact, the women who make allegations against conservatives are treated like heroines. Just ask Anita Hill. Of course, I am referring to what started off as a vicious, anonymous sexual-assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh but has now blossomed into a full-blown allegation by accuser Christine Blasey Ford, a professorof clinical psychology at Palo Alto University. Her anonymous accusation made in a July letter to Senator Diane Feinstein is now part of a desperate effort to kill the Kavanaugh confirmation. The political left is full of glee at the prospect of bringing down one of President Trump’s Supreme Court nominees. So much so, that John Harris, editor-in-chief of Politico, decided to bring God into the debate in an article titled “Why God is Laughing at Brett Kavanaugh.” The subtitle of the smug and self-righteous screed was “American Politics is about power,…

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EXCLUSIVE: Soros-Backed Activists Slip Cash To Anti-Kavanaugh Protesters Before Arrests

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by Peter Hasson and Joe Simonson   Left-wing groups funded by George Soros and other major Democratic donors hand out cash to protesters arrested for disrupting Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, the activists revealed Monday night. A coalition of left-wing activist organizations including Women’s March, the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) and Housing Works have scheduled the near-constant disruptions at the Kavanaugh hearings as part of an organized effort to derail the confirmation process in a series of meetings since he was first nominated. The cash from the donor-funded groups goes toward the protesters’ post-and-forfeit payments — a small cash sum paid to resolve low-level misdemeanor crimes and avoid jail time. Those are just some of the details representatives from the three groups revealed in a Monday night conference call planning their next two anti-Kavanaugh protests, one on Thursday and one next Monday. The Daily Caller News Foundation received a tip with the dial-in code for Monday’s conference call and was present on the call in its entirety. One reporter, who asked questions, revealed his name during the introductions portion of the meeting. Protesters only need a government-issued ID and “your cash for the post-and-forfeit,” CPD national field organizer Darius…

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Corker: Senate Judiciary Committee Members Should ‘Move On’ If Kavanaugh Accuser Declines Opportunity To Testify

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Bob Corker, Brett Kavanaugh

by Henry Rodgers   Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker said Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing Judge Brett Kavanaugh of high school-era sexual assault, needs to respond to Senate inquiries, and that the Judiciary Committee should “move on” if she declines. “I would hope that if someone has been given the opportunity to voice a concern that they have that they would do so,” Corker told The Daily Caller News Foundation in the U.S. Capitol Tuesday afternoon. “So that would be quite something, if she decided she did not want to testify. I would assume the committee would then move on, as they should.” Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who has been on the fence about Kavanaugh, said earlier Tuesday that she finds it “very puzzling” that Ford will not respond to inquiries from the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying “she’s now being given an opportunity to come before the Senate Judiciary Committee and to answer questions and I really hope that she doesn’t pass up that opportunity.” Corker told Politico on Sunday he believed it “would be best for all involved, including the nominee” if they were able to tell their sides of the story in front of the committee. However, according to Iowa Republican…

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Keith Ellison Accuser, Karen Monahan, Says Democratic Party Doesn’t Believe Her

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by Hanna Bogorowski   Karen Monahan, the woman accusing Minnesota Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison of domestic abuse, responded to a Twitter user on Monday who asked if Democrats believe Monahan’s allegations, saying they don’t, and that she’s been threatened and isolated from her own party. The user was following up on a tweet about Christine Blasey Ford, the woman accusing Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault. Peter Daou, a Democratic strategist and former advisor to Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, tweeted on Monday that Ford will be “attacked, smeared, and demonized” and that people must “BELIEVE WOMEN.” Make no mistake: #ChristineBlaseyFord will be attacked, smeared, and demonized. She will sustain more venom and vilification than #Kavanaugh. That's how this works. BELIEVE WOMEN. https://t.co/5NJ7nBOs4k — Peter Daou (@peterdaou) September 17, 2018 A Twitter user named Rose responded to Daou’s tweet, saying, “Democrats say believe women, do they believe you….” in reference to Monahan, who claims Ellison violently dragged her off a bed and yelled “Bitch, get the f*** out of my house” in a heated argument the couple allegedly had in 2016. “No, they [Democrats] don’t,” Monahan responded back. “I’ve been smeared, threatened, isolated from my own party.” No, they don't. I've been smeared, threatened, isolated from my own…

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Commentary: Last-Minute Kavanaugh Attack by Feinstein Dirty Trick on Eve of Confirmation

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by Robert Romano   Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) decision to sit for a little more than a month on an allegation of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, contradicted by a witness, from more than 30 years ago when he was in high school was a dirty trick not designed to get to the truth — but to prevent any vetting of the allegation during the lengthy process when Kavanaugh could have responded directly. Now, with the Kavanaugh Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation vote set for Sept. 20, Palo Alto University professor Christine Blasey Ford has come forward, setting up a “me too” moment akin to Anita Hill testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991 in an attempt to torpedo Clarence Thomas’ nomination. Mark Judge, a writer in Washington, D.C., who was accused of being in the room with Kavanaugh and appears as the attack’s sole witness besides Ford and is accused of turning up the music to hide the attack, told the Weekly Standard, “It’s just absolutely nuts. I never saw Brett act that way.” It is telling that Feinstein never shared the letter she received in July with her Senate Judiciary Committee colleagues, including Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), nor…

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McConnell Breaks Silence On Kavanaugh Accusations – Slams Democrats

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by Henry Rogers   Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell slammed Democrats for bringing forward a 36-year-old accusation of misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, on the Senate floor Monday. “But now, now, at the 11th hour, with committee votes on schedule, after Democrats have spent weeks and weeks searching for any possible reason that the nomination should be delayed, now, now they choose to reveal this allegation,” McConnell said. “Now, an accusation of 36-year-old misconduct, dating back to high school, has been brought forward at the last minute, in an irregular manner.” McConnell’s comments come as he has continued to defend Kavanaugh, but has not publicly commented on the sexual misconduct allegations that came to light Thursday. .@Senatemajldr: "But now, now, at the 11th hour, with committee votes on schedule, after Democrats have spent weeks and weeks searching for any possible reason that the nomination should be delayed, now, now they choose to reveal this allegation."#Kavanaugh #SCOTUS pic.twitter.com/p9V3OVOSjO — CSPAN (@cspan) September 17, 2018 “It is an accusation which the ranking member of the committee of jurisdiction has known about for at least six weeks. Known about for six weeks. Yet chose to keep secret until the 11th hour,” McConnell said, referencing Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of…

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Commentary: A High-Tech Lynching Redux

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by CHQ Staff   We’ve seen this despicable Democrat tactic play out before. A Republican president nominates a person universally said to be the nicest guy in the world, with a resume chock full of good works, and stellar intellectual and legal credentials to sit on the Supreme Court. The  nominee is days away from his confirmation vote. Suddenly, a liberal female university professor, with a tenuous decades-old connection to the nominee, steps forward out of nowhere to tell a “he said – she said story” and accuse the nominee of sexual misconduct. Democrats, who have known of the allegations for months, but did not share them with the Committee Chairman or the FBI during the investigatory phase of the nomination demand that, “due to the seriousness of the allegation” the vote on the nomination should be postponed, or perhaps the nomination should be withdrawn. In 1991 it was Judge Clarence Thomas who was subjected to this high-tech lynching, today it is Judge Brett Kavanaugh. An email from Taylor Foy, Communications Director for the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, summed-up the Democrat’s disgusting attempt at character assassination this way: It’s disturbing that these uncorroborated allegations from more than 35…

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Schumer, Feinstein Call For Delay On Kavanaugh, As GOP Gives Conflicting Signals

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Diane Feinstein, Chuck Schumer

by Kevin Daley   Senate Democratic leadership urged Republicans to delay further action on Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, after The Washington Post revealed the identity of a once-anonymous woman accusing the nominee of sexual assault when they were in high school. The accuser, a researcher named Christine Blasey Ford affiliated with Stanford and Palo Alto University, provided additional details about the alleged assault to The Post, the first time she has spoken publicly about her accusations. The report notwithstanding, key Republican lawmakers appeared ready to proceed, though at least one GOP senator on the Senate Judiciary Committee said he was open to further input from Ford. By Ford’s telling, Kavanaugh allegedly held her down on a bed and groped her at a house party at some point in the early 1980s. The alleged encounter ended when a third person, Mark Judge, intervened by jumping on top of them. At the time of the alleged incident, Kavanaugh was 17 and Ford was 15. For his part, Kavanaugh adamantly denies the charge. “I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time,” the judge said in a statement provided…

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Bredesen ‘Running From a Tough Decision’ on Kavanaugh Nomination, Republicans Say

Jason M. Reynolds

As of Friday, it had been 56 days since Judge Brett Kavanaugh was nominated to the Supreme Court, and Phil Bredesen says he still needs more time to consider whether he supports President Donald Trump’s selection. Bredesen says he is “embarrassed” by Democrats’ treatment of Kavanaugh in the confirmation hearings, the Tennessee Star reported earlier this week, citing a story in The Tennessean. Four Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee donated money to Bredesen’s campaign. The senators are: Cory Booker (D-NJ), $5,000; Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), $10,000; Kamala Harris (D-CA), $10,000; and Dick Durbin (D-IL), $5,000. The GOP cited this campaign finance report in a press release. The Democratic candidate, who is pro-abortion, said Kavanaugh’s pro-life stance would not matter to him if he could vote. He told reporters that Kavanaugh’s position on abortion is “certainly not as important to me as it is for some Democrats.” In July Bredesen said he would have to wait for the hearings to make a decision. But after multiple days of hearings, he said he didn’t watch them because he was busy traveling, the Tennessee Republican Party said in a press release. Politico reported on July 30 that Schumer has been…

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Unnamed and Uncorroborated Accuser Claims Brett Kavanaugh Tried To Force Himself Onto Her More Than Thirty Years Ago

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Brett Kavanaugh

by Kevin Daley   An unnamed woman has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of attempting to force himself onto her during an non-consensual encounter at a party, one day after Democratic lawmakers released a cryptic statement referring to possible misconduct in the judge’s past. The allegation, which appeared Friday morning in The New Yorker, relates an incident that occurred in the early 1980s when Kavanaugh was a high school student at Georgetown Preparatory School in Maryland. All involved in the alleged encounter were minors at the time. According to the report, the woman alleges that Kavanaugh and a male classmate accosted her at a party. She claims Kavanaugh held her down and attempted to force himself onto her while his confidant turned up music which was playing in the room to drown out her protestations. The New Yorker reported that the alleged victim managed to free herself. It is not clear if a sexual liaison took place. “I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation,” Kavanaugh told said in a statement released by the White House. “I did not do this back in high school or at any time.” The other male involved in the alleged incident separately denied the charge. Sen. Dianne…

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Sen. Lamar Alexander: ‘Judge Kavanaugh Will Be Confirmed by the Senate at the End of the Month’

Tennessee Star Staff
Lamar Alexander

NASHVILLE, Tennessee–Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) told a gathering of the Nashville Kiwanis Club on Friday he believes that Judge Brett Kavanaugh will be sitting on the Supreme Court on October 1. Alexander began his comments by noting that “the Senate has gotten into a bad habit” in recent years in the way it conducts hearings on nominees for the Supreme Court. “I believe that Judge Kavanaugh will be confirmed by the Senate at the end of the month and be sitting on the Court October 1 when it opens its new term,” Alexander told the audience at the Patron Platinum Club Restaurant at Bridgestone Arena. Alexander said some Democrats in the Senate now consider Supreme Court nominees as “innocent until nominated.” “They treat someone like Judge Kavanaugh as if he were recently released from San Quentin prison. Although in fact, he is one of the most highly regarded members of the Federal Circuit Court,” Alexander said. “You have a Republican president appointing judges, and the Democratic senators acting like they’re in the circus, trying to insult the judge . . . for whatever reasons I’m not sure. It’s a very bad habit. It’s not good for our country,” he noted.…

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Judge Brett Kavanaugh Addresses His Encounter With Parkland Dad in Written Supplement To Testimony

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Brett Kavanaugh

by Kevin Daley   Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh submitted written responses to over 1,000 follow-up questions from lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee late Wednesday night. The judge’s responses run over 250 pages, though many referred back to answers given during his confirmation hearings and other public writings. As in the hearings, Kavanaugh was evasive when pressed for his views on abortion and related social issues. “As a sitting judge and nominee, principles of judicial independence prevent me from speculating about hypothetical contingent events, particularly involving a controlling precedent of the Supreme Court,” he wrote in response to a question about the events that would follow the overruling of Roe v. Wade. GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who chairs the committee, asked Kavanaugh to address his fleeting encounter with Parkland, Florida, parent Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime Guttenberg was killed during the Feb. 14 massacre. Fred Guttenberg approached the judge as he left the witness table for a recess — images of Kavanaugh avoiding the advance circulated widely in social media. “As I was leaving the hearing room for a recess last Tuesday, a man behind me yelled my name, approached me from behind, and touched my arm,” Kavanaugh…

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Walter Williams Commentary: Brett Kavanaugh’s Opponents Aren’t Really Against Him, They’re Against the Constitution

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Brett Kavanaugh

by Walter E. Williams   One of the best statements of how the Framers saw the role of the federal government is found in Federalist Paper 45, written by James Madison, who is known as the “Father of the Constitution”: The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce. … The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people. Today’s reality is the polar opposite of that vision. The powers of the federal government are numerous and indefinite, and those of state governments are few and defined. If confirmed, Brett Kavanaugh will bring to the Supreme Court a vision closer to that of the Framers than the vision of those who believe that the Constitution is a “living document.” Those Americans rallying against Kavanaugh’s confirmation are really against the Constitution rather than the man—Kavanaugh—whom I believe would take seriously his oath of office to uphold…

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Kavanaugh Supreme Court Confirmation Vote Puts Red State Democrats in a Bind

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by Robert Romano   Nine Senate Democrats are standing for reelection this year in states President Donald Trump carried in 2016: Jon Tester on Montana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Bill Nelson of Florida. And they could be facing the vote of their political lives when it comes to the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. So far, of those nine, Tester, Heitkamp, Nelson, Donnelly, Manchin and McCaskill have not said they will support or oppose Kavanaugh. They’ve been very quiet. For good reason. The political left in the U.S. is having an apoplectic fit that less than two years into President Donald Trump first term of office, he has had not one but two Supreme Court picks. More than any other decision, who a president puts on the Supreme Court is often one of his most enduring legacies, as the appointments often last decades. To them, Kavanaugh, a constitutionalist who promises to interpret the law as written represents everything they oppose—a firm, consistent, predictable rule of law within the boundaries set by the…

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Commentary: Will the Democrats’ Sad Shaming of Kavanaugh Ignite a Fury in the GOP Grassroots?

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by Jeffery Rendall   With the confirmation hearings for Trump Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh now concluded talk slowly returns to the hot topic of the hour, the 2018 midterm elections. But first let’s digest the big glob of goopy phlegm America was forced to swallow last week, served up by shameless Democrats on a mission. In the course of shredding a good man’s reputation the ravenous pack of minority party wolves revealed they weren’t the least bit interested in learning about Kavanaugh’s judicial philosophies, logical reasoning, legal opinions or thought processes. Democrats spared nothing in savaging the Supreme Court as an institution while verbally disrobing and flogging the nominee before a horrified audience – which included his wife and young daughters. It was a sickening spectacle worthy of bad cinema fiction. If Hollywood produced a film with actors impersonating senators doing the dirty work it wouldn’t have been any more insulting and melodramatic for Kavanaugh himself. One wonders what motivates a respectable person like the judge (or Neil Gorsuch last year) to agree to a guaranteed scourging at the hands of swine in business dress who see it as their sole mission to create histrionics and assault a man’s character. The…

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Democrat Sen. Chris Coons Says He ‘Has To Be Careful’ In Saying Cory Booker Violated Rules With Kavanaugh Docs

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by Nick Givas   Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware wouldn’t confirm if his colleague Sen. Cory Booker would face ethics violations, for his behavior at Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing. Booker admitted to violating committee rules on confidential documents, when he claimed to have released information about Kavanaugh despite knowing it may have consequences. He called it his “Spartucus moment.” Host Chris Wallace said the documents in question had already been cleared and accused the Democrats of being overly dramatic, to sell a political stunt. “I have to be careful what I say here because I’m the vice chairman of the ethics committee and in that role I can’t comment on anything that may or may not come before the ethics committee,” Coons replied. “Let me just say this about the whole dispute,” Coons continued. “I do think this was an unprecedented process in which significant amounts, the overwhelming majority of the documents relevant to Judge Kavanaugh’s service in the Bush Administration as staff secretary were blocked from review by the committee. And there was a strong disagreement between the majority and the minority. Overall I agree with that concern.” Wallace continued to push the issue and asked Coons about Booker behavior,…

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Will Pence Cast The Tie-Breaking Vote For Brett Kavanaugh?

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Brett Kavanaugh, Mike Pence

by Kevin Daley   Vice President Mike Pence is prepared to cast a tie-breaking vote to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, should the Senate split 50-50 in a vote on his nomination. Speaking Sunday to CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Pence said he hopes the Senate will not deadlock on the Kavanaugh nomination, while appearing to acknowledge that the White House doesn’t yet know how a handful of key lawmakers plan to vote. “Well we hope not,” he said, when asked if a tie in the Senate is likely. The Constitution empowers the vice president to break ties when the Senate splits evenly on the question before it. The vice president did not say whether the administration had a firm vote count for the confirmation. Though most lawmakers have publicly announced their intentions respecting Kavanaugh, a handful of moderate senators have deferred their decisions until after the confirmation hearings concluded. Most notably, two pro-choice Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have not yet committed to supporting Kavanaugh, though both have generally said positive things about him publicly. “We’ll see where we are,” Pence said, when Brennan pressed as to whether the administration knew…

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All Eyes On Red State Dems As Kavanaugh Emerges From Hearings Intact

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Brett Kavanaugh

by Kevin Daley   Attention is fixed on a handful of moderate senators expected to cast the decisive votes on Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, after Kavanaugh emerged relatively unscathed from several days of testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Democrats tried to infuse the hearings with defiant gestures and dramatic reveals — like a 2003 email purporting to show Kavanaugh misled the committee about his views on Roe v. Wade — but their tactics gained little traction with key lawmakers, while the judge put in a disciplined performance throughout. “Over the past three days, Judge Kavanaugh demonstrated exactly why President Trump nominated him to the Supreme Court,” said White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah. “His fidelity to the Constitution, impeccable qualifications, and extraordinary temperament were on full display for the American people to see. Through long hours and days of questioning, Judge Kavanaugh consistently reinforced his firm belief in the bedrock principles of judicial independence and the rule of law.” For his part, Kavanaugh avoided serious blunders, meeting pointed questions about abortion, race, guns, and executive power with narrow, carefully planned answers, showing good command of legal doctrine but little about his actual views. Supreme Court nominees have generally avoided…

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Activists Sent 3,000 Coat Hangers To Sen. Collins’s Office To Protest Against Confirming Kavanaugh

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Murkowski, Collins

by Neetu Chandak   Activists sent coat hangers to Maine Sen. Susan Collins’s office to protest against confirming Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The Republican senator’s office received 3,000 coat hangers, which served as reminders of back-alley abortions, according to The Associated Press Saturday. Collins and Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who both support abortion rights, are considered as crucial voters for Kavanaugh to be confirmed. “I have voted for Justice [Sonia] Sotomayor, and I’ve also voted for Justice [Samuel] Alito,” Collins said, the AP reported. The two judges have opposite ideological perspectives. Collins added that she would not make a decision on Kavanaugh until his confirmation hearing was over, according to the AP. The four-day hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee ended Friday. “I was shocked when many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle took a position on the nominee before his identity was even known,” Collins said. “That’s just extraordinary.” Pro-choice supporters believe Kavanaugh would help overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court case that legalized abortions. “I want to be clear that a vote for any of the proposed nominees on [President Donald] Trump’s list is a vote to overturn Roe v. Wade,” co-founder of the protest group Indivisible…

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Commentary: The Kavanaugh Hearing: A Democrat Campaign Circus

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Brett Kavanaugh

by CHQ Staff   Conservative may assume that the not so “presidential” aspirations of Democratic Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California turned Thursday’s confirmation hearing for Judge Brett Kavanaugh into a circus, with Harris and Booker vying for the role of chief clown, but it was an important moment in Democratic politics. Booker began the morning by announcing “I’m breaking Senate rules. This is my only chance to have a Spartacus moment. I’m willing to get kicked out of the Senate over this,” before claiming to release publicly “committee confidential” memos related to Kavanaugh’s time at the Bush White House. The only problem for those of us who would like to see Booker out of the Senate is that the material had already been cleared for release to the media, so charges leading to Booker’s expulsion from the Senate would not hold up. What’s more, reading through the material reveals that Kavanaugh came out strongly against racial or ethnic profiling in the George W. Bush administration’s post-9/11 airport security screening and law enforcement policies generally. FOX News reporter Shannon Bream later tweeted that Fox was told by Committee staffers that Sen. Booker knew BEFORE he made…

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Does Phil Bredesen Endorse Senate Democrats’ Shameless Antics?

Jason M. Reynolds
Phil Bredesen

Democrat Phil Bredesen, who is running for the seat of retiring U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), claims he wants to end hyper-partisanship in Washington. The Tennessee Republican Party said in a press release it is clear, however, that the worst partisans are members of Bredesen’s party. “Senate Democrats engaged in a shameful display yesterday, rudely interrupting Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing a 76 times,” the Tennessee Republican Party said. “The Democrats further admitted their behavior was pre-planned and had nothing to do with any substantive opposition to Judge Kavanaugh.” Bredesen says he isn’t afraid to call out members of his own party when they take a wrong turn. But Bredesen and members of his campaign refused to comment on the antics members of his own party unleashed at Tuesday’s U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearing for Brett Kavanaugh in the Judiciary Committee. No one in the Bredesen campaign returned The Tennessee Star’s repeated requests for comment Tuesday. Bredesen has remained noticeably silent on the episode, perhaps because he’s accepted tens of thousands of dollars from Senate Democrats on the Judiciary Committee. “Confirming judicial nominees is one of the most important duties of a United States Senator, yet Phil Bredesen refuses to…

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Supreme Court Nominee Kavanaugh’s Confirmation Hearings to Begin September 4

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Brett Kavanaugh

by Fred Lucas   The confirmation hearings for federal appeals court Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to become the next Supreme Court justice will begin on Sept. 4 and last three to four days, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, announced Friday. Grassley’s announcement comes as Senate Democrats sought to further stall the hearings, demanding more documents on Kavanaugh’s service in President George W. Bush’s White House and as a lawyer on independent counsel Kenneth Starr’s investigation of President Bill Clinton in the late 1990s. “As I said after his nomination, Judge Kavanaugh is one of the most respected jurists in the country and one of the most qualified nominees ever to be considered by the Senate for a seat on our highest court,” said Grassley in a statement. Kavanaugh has served as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since 2006. President Donald Trump nominated him July 9 to fill the vacancy of the retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. Grassley continued: My team has already reviewed every page of the over 4,800 pages of judicial opinions Judge Kavanaugh wrote, over 6,400 pages of opinions he joined, more than 125,000 pages of records produced…

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Orrin Hatch Calls Out Democrats’ ‘Dumba–‘ Partisanship Over Kavanaugh Document Request

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Orrin Hatch

by Molly Prince   Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah criticized Democrats on Thursday over their superfluous request to gain access to and review over a million additional documents prior to the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Speaking with other members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Hatch expressed his disappointment in Kavanaugh’s confirmation process, specifically regarding the partisanship on the side of the Democrats. “We can’t keep going down this partisan, picky, stupid dumbass road that has happened around here for so long,” Hatch said, according to a C-SPAN recording. “I am sick and tired of it to be honest with you and I’m tired of the partisanship, and frankly, we didn’t treat their candidates for these positions the way their treating ours.” Democrats have demanded volumes of archived documents from when Kavanaugh worked as a staff secretary for former President George W. Bush, an unprecedented request for a Supreme Court nominee. While Democrats claim Republicans are trying to “hide” Kavanaugh’s past by not releasing the documents, Republicans are claiming Democrats are stonewalling the confirmation hearing. “When you look at Judge Kavanaugh, if you want a choir boy to be on the court, in other words, from…

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Sen. Rand Paul Backs Supreme Court Nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh

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Rand Paul

Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who had publicly wavered as to whether he would support Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, endorsed him Monday. Paul of Kentucky says he will back Kavanaugh despite his misgivings about the judge’s views on surveillance and privacy issues. Few had expected Senator Paul would oppose President Donald Trump’s choice in the end. The endorsement gives Kavanaugh a boost as he prepares to sit down Monday afternoon with Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, one of a handful of Democratic senators seen as potential swing votes in the confirmation fight. Manchin has said he’s interested in Kavanaugh’s views on the Affordable Care Act and its protections for people with pre-existing conditions. The senator has also asked West Virginia residents to send him questions for the meeting. Manchin was one of three Democrats who voted to confirm Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch. Sens. Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota were the others. All three are up for re-election in states Trump easily won in 2016. Republicans have a narrow 51-49 majority in the Senate. With the absence of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who is fighting brain cancer, they cannot afford to lose…

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Commentary: Democrats Show Symptoms of ABKDS (Acute Brett Kavanaugh Derangement Syndrome)

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Brett Kavanaugh

by Jeffery Rendall   In a modern American culture where people hardly agree on anything, one thing is crystal clear to everyone these days: if you turn your back on someone, you’re insulting them. That’s exactly what’s happening on Capitol Hill as Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is receiving the cold shoulder and a chilled reception from minority party Democrat senators as he makes his rounds to meet with as many lawmakers as possible prior to his upcoming confirmation hearings. Democrats aren’t just turning their backs on Kavanaugh though – they’re outright denying him entrance to their offices. As would be expected, Democrats’ reasons for the snub aren’t very convincing. Susan Ferrechio of the Washington Examinerreported, “Many Senate Democrats have refused to hold the traditional meet and greet events with Supreme Court nominee Judge Kavanaugh, arguing they have not received all of the millions of pages of documentation related to Kavanaugh’s time working in the Bush White House. “Their shut out could ultimately delay the confirmation process and has prompted a threat from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to keep the Senate in session until Election Day if that time is needed to confirm Kavanaugh. “Republicans want to confirm Kavanaugh by…

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Senate GOP Draws Line On Kavanaugh Vetting Ahead Of Confirmation Hearings

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Brett Kavanaugh

by Kevin Daley   Senate Republicans are increasingly of the mind that documents Judge Brett Kavanaugh produced as White House staff secretary should not be reviewed in connection with his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. Instead, GOP lawmakers believe the Senate is best served by confining its review of Kavanaugh’s writings to his judicial opinions and memos he generated as a lawyer for former President George W. Bush. Kavanaugh produced or processed approximately 1 million pages of records as an aide to Bush. Senate Democrats have asked to review that entire body of work, in hopes of slowing the confirmation process, or finding information damaging to his confirmation prospects. The Washington Post reported Tuesday that White House counsel Don McGahn met privately with Senate Republicans to discuss which of Kavanaugh’s Bush administration records should be released from their current sequestration in the National Archives. According to the Post, the developing consensus among Trump aides and GOP lawmakers is that work product the judge generated as a White House lawyer should be released, while any records relating to his service as staff secretary should remain private. GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, took this position…

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Commentary: Will Brett Kavanaugh Stand for Property Rights?

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Susette Kelo, Brett Kavanaugh

by Tom DeWeese   There’s lots of talk about where Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh stands on the Roe v Wade abortion decision and if he would vote to rescind it. There is another very controversial Supreme Court decision made just a few years ago, supported by Anthony Kennedy, the justice he seeks to replace. That is the Kelo decision that basically obliterated private property rights in America. So, where does Brett Kavanaugh stand on protection of private property rights? With Kennedy or the Constitution? In 2005, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down an opinion that shocked the nation. It was the case of Susette Kelo, et al. v City of New London, Connecticut, et al. The issue: “Does the government taking of property from one private owner to give to another private entity for economic development constitute a permissible ‘public use’ under the Fifth Amendment?” In 2000, the city of New London saw a chance to rake in big bucks through tax revenues for a new downtown development project that was to be anchored by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. The company announced a plan to build a $270 million dollar global research facility in the city. The local government jumped at the chance…

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Mitch McConnell Is Ready To Play Hardball To Get Kavanaugh Confirmed

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Mitch McConnell

by Kevin Daley   Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told senior Republicans that he will schedule Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote on a date just before the November elections if Democrats demand access to the full scope of records the judge produced in the George W. Bush administration. Democrats are leveraging the access dispute to slow Kavanaugh’s nomination, as it is one of the few mechanisms they have to delay progress on the appointment. Politico reports that McConnell believes scheduling a confirmation vote in immediate proximity to the midterm elections will exacerbate political pressure on embattled Democrats from red states to support Kavanaugh. “To me, it’s in their best interest to have that vote done for a lot of their red-state senators who are facing their voters,” GOP Sen. John Thune of South Dakota. Democrats want access to a massive body of work Kavanaugh generated during his time in the Bush White House. The judge entered the administration as associate White House counsel, then became staff secretary in 2006. In these capacities he advised senior officials on a range of legal issues and managed the president’s paper flow. He left the executive branch following his confirmation to the U.S. Court of…

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Senator Bob Corker Indicates He’ll Support Judge Kavanaugh Regardless Of What President Trump Does

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Bob Corker, Brett Kavanaugh

by Thomas Phippen   Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker, a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, said his disapproval of the president’s actions and comments would not stop him from supporting Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Corker said he received calls from Democratic colleagues after Trump’s controversial summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki Monday, urging the departing Tennessee senator to block Kavanaugh’s nomination. After the Helsinki press conference, which was “one of the worst” Corker said he’s seen, a leading Democrat called the Republican with a request to block Kavanaugh. “He said, ‘Corker, you need to block the Supreme Court nominee,’” Corker recalled. “Well, I could hit myself in the knee with a sledge hammer too. But why would I block someone that I generally like over what the president has done?” Because Corker is departing the chamber when his term ends in 2019, and because of his frequent criticisms of Trump, he is among a group of GOP politicians activists hope will cross the aisle to block a conservative justice from ascending to the Supreme Court. Along with Corker, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Jeff Flake of Arizona, all frequent…

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Soros-Linked Group Will Spend Millions To Stop Kavanaugh

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Donald Trump, Brett Kavanaugh, George Soros

by Kevin Daley and Andrew Kerr    – Progressives have formed a new political outfit to mobilize left-wing energy on judicial confirmations, including Judge Kavanaugh  – The group, Demand Justice, is financed and administratively supported by the Sixteen Thirty Fund  – George Soros’ advocacy network has given millions to the Sixteen Thirty Fund in recent years A new political advocacy group that vowed to put $5 million behind an effort to stop Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court has significant ties to the liberal financier George Soros. A Daily Caller News Foundation review has found that the group’s primary financial supporter is a nonprofit to whom Soros has given millions. The group, Demand Justice (DJ), is organized and financed by a 501(c)(4) called the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which collected some $2.2 million in contributions from the Open Society Policy Center (OSPC), one of Soros’ primary donation vehicles, between 2012 and 2016. The Soros Connection The Fund is largely financed by a handful of donors. Financial statements filed with state oversight officials in 2014 show just three contributors accounted for 70 percent — or some $11.5 million — of the Fund’s total donations and grant revenue. Disclosure forms filed with the same agency…

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Commentary: Democrats Don’t Fear Brett Kavanaugh – They Fear the Constitution

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Bernie Sanders

by David Harsanyi   Sure, some of the anger aimed at President Donald Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court is partisan bluster meant to placate the activist base. Still, most Democrats were going to get hysterical about any pick, because any conservative pick was going to take the Constitution far too literally for their liking. For those who rely on the administrative state and coercion as a policy tool—forcing people to join political organizations, forcing them to support abortion, forcing them to subsidize socially progressive sacraments, forcing them to create products that undermine their faith, and so on—that’s a big problem. Some, such as former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, indulged in the histrionic rhetoric we’ve come to expect in the Trump era, claiming that Kavanaugh would “threaten the lives of millions of Americans for decades to come.” But almost none of the objections coming from leading Democrats have been even ostensibly about Kavanaugh’s qualifications as a jurist or, for that matter, his interpretation of the Constitution. [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] “Specifically,” prospective presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.,…

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Commentary: Democrats’ Anti-Catholic Bigotry On Kavanaugh Will Cost Them In November

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Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump

by George Rasley   That the Democratic Party has become the party of the anti-religious Far Left was confirmed way back in 2012 when delegates to the Democratic National Convention jeered the mention of God and struck all reference to him in their platform. However, until recently, as smart politicians most national figures in the Democratic Party carefully avoided the anti-Christian, anti-Semitic bigotry displayed by their Left wing grassroots activists. That all changed in 2017 during the confirmation of now-Judge Amy Coney Barrett when California’s Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein went after Barrett’s Catholic faith during her confirmation hearing. Feinstein charged that Barrett has “a long history of believing [her] religious beliefs should prevail,” and added “when you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you.” Liberals have since tried to explain away Feinstein’s odd phrasing, which had the quality of a nativist, anti-Papist tract from a century ago observed James S. Robbins in a recent op-ed for USAToday. These days, says Robbins, liberals have taken to portraying people in public life who exhibit almost any kind of faith orientation as dangerous extremists. In a discussion of the high court, CNN contributor Dean Obeidallah maintained…

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Steve Gill Commentary: The Californication of the Teachers’ Union

Tennessee Star Staff
NEA

At the recent National Education Association (NEA) Annual Meeting, where Tennessee Education Association (TEA) representatives participated along with other affiliates across the country, the highly partisan NEA took strong positions against immigration reform  and Republicans in general.  They even gave an award to controversial former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick to honor his activism in leading protests against the National Anthem. Now NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia has weighed in on the US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.  Not surprisingly the NEA opposes Kavanaugh.  Their opposition is NOT based on his rulings as a Court of Appeals Judge, but primarily upon the hysterical concerns generated in liberal circles with completely bogus claims about recent Supreme Court rulings.  For example, she claims the Supreme Court  weakened the right of educators and other working people to come together in their unions and through collective bargaining to advocate for fair pay, benefits, and working conditions (Janus v. AFSCME, a 5-4 vote). Janus actually granted teachers and others the freedom NOT to be forced to join a union if they didn’t want to. And the “Muslim ban” that the Supreme Court confirmed, where travel from certain countries was restricted based on national security interests and…

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Senate Looks Poised To Confirm Kavanaugh

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Brett Kavanaugh

by Robert Donachie   A cloud is looming over the Senate Tuesday and its name is D.C. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Trump nominated Kavanaugh Monday evening to officially replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. The nomination has riled conservatives who are hungry to see a Supreme Court champion conservative causes, but has also struck fear in Democrats. [ RELATED: Kavanaugh’s Record Is Deeply Conservative ] In the larger Senate conference, Republicans made clear Tuesday they believe Kavanaugh is a well qualified, highly respected judge that should make it through the confirmation process, acknowledging there will likely meet a few bumps in the road. “Well, I’m sorry to say that Judge Kavanaugh seems to have already broken that record — because Senate Democrats were on the record opposing him before he’d even been named, before the ink was even dry on Justice Kennedy’s resignation,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement late Monday evening. This is a tell-tale sign that some of our colleagues are throwing thoughtful, independent judgment out the window and are outsourcing their thinking on this matter to far-left special interest groups.” The fight from Democrats is a concern for many within the Republican conference, but only…

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Phil ‘Duck and Cover’ Bredesen Playing Games with Trump’s SCOTUS Nominee?

John Bryant
Brett Kavanaugh, Chuck Schumer, Phil Bredesen

The Tennessee Republican Party is calling Democratic Senate candidate Phil Bredesen to task for his lack of candor in dealing with President Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Along with asking if Democrat Chuck Schumer’s “Tennessee recruit” Phil Bredesen will oppose President Trump’s latest Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, the way Schumer is,  they’re also going after him for playing a game of duck and cover on the issue. “Chuck Schumer recruiting Phil Bredesen to run for the Senate has, without a doubt, always been a part of his plan for a full frontal partisan attack against any nominee from President Trump. His ‘everything he’s got’ would 100% include Phil Bredesen if elected. While Phil Bredesen can pretend he would give serious consideration to any Supreme Court nominee from President Trump, you have ask, with Chuck Schumer and liberal Democratic PACs committing millions of dollars to the Senate race in Tennessee, would Phil Bredesen even have a choice?,” says their latest release. In effect, they also accuse Bredesen of being dishonest with voters on the issue. Instead of being honest with voters about President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Phil Bredesen is playing a game of political…

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President Trump Nominates Federal Appeals Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh to Supreme Court

Tennessee Star Staff

President Trump announced on a live television broadcast Monday night that he is nominating federal appeals court judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Kavanaugh, 53, will replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Court. Kennedy, long considered the “swing vote” on the nine member Court, retired in June after thirty years on the highest bench in the land. Trump selected Kavanaugh over three well qualified finalists who were also on the list of 25 potential Supreme Court Justices he announced during his campaign for president. Kavanaugh has served as a federal circuit judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since 2006. A graduate of Yale and Yale Law School, Kavanaugh is considered a protegee of Ken Starr, who he worked for during Starr’s special counsel investigation. He also clerked for Justice Kennedy and served in the administration of George W. Bush. The three finalists who Trump did not select this time around were: federal appeals court judge Raymond Kethledge, federal appeals court judge Amy Coney Barrett, and federal appeals court judge Thomas Hardiman. Judge Raymond Kethledge, 51, is a native of Michigan and graduate of the…

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