Tag: SCOTUS

Commentary: Make Thursday A National Day Of Prayer For Brett Kavanaugh And Family

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Brett Kavanaugh, Mike Pence

by George Rasley   Throughout the ordeal of his confirmation millions of Americans have been praying for Judge Brett Kavanaugh and his family. President Trump made the point that prayer was a necessary element of the battle to confirm Judge Kavanaugh in a September 25 tweet: The Democrats are playing a high level CON GAME in their vicious effort to destroy a fine person. It is called the politics of destruction. Behind the scene the Dems are laughing. Pray for Brett Kavanaugh and his family! The Democrats are playing a high level CON GAME in their vicious effort to destroy a fine person. It is called the politics of destruction. Behind the scene the Dems are laughing. Pray for Brett Kavanaugh and his family! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 26, 2018 And it was not just the President who has been urging prayer for Judge Kavanaugh and his family. Political Commentator and Analyst @RyanAFournier tweeted to his over 500,000 Twitter followers: It takes a lot for a grown man, with a long & successful career in the judicial system, to choke up after every single word while in-front of millions on national TV. We need to continue to pray…

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Sen. Lamar Alexander Tells Tennessee Star Report Vote on Kavanaugh Will Be Held This Week

Julie Carr

On Tuesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – the men talked with Senator Lamar Alexander about getting the vote finalized after a seventh FBI investigation into Judge Kavanaugh is completed so that they can confirm President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. “Well, Senator McConnell is determined to have the vote this week so we’ll get the FBI look at Judge Kavanaugh over the last 26 years.  We’ll see if it says what it said before.  We’ll have a day or two to read it, and then we’ll vote.  And so yes, I believe a vote will be this week sometime, maybe Friday or Saturday, but it will be this week,” Alexander said. At the beginning of the segment, Alexander commented in dismay regarding the issue of fairness and how the destruction of Kavanaugh’s reputation, which was excellent up until only ten days ago, has effected the nominee. “What people are overlooking is Judge Kavanaugh has been subjected to six background checks over the last 26 years in connection with the various federal positions he has.  And those background checks are extensive. The…

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Commentary: Republicans Learning the Hard Way a Great Economy Ain’t Enough Anymore

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by Jeffery Rendall   In the 2016 presidential election’s stretch run Hillary Clinton famously asked during an interview, “Why aren’t I 50 points ahead?” American voters knew the answer and shared it with the former first lady and legacy Democrat presidential candidate on Election Day. Clinton did end up a couple points ahead (in terms of popular vote) but was way behind where it counted — in the Electoral College. By posing the ridiculous query Hillary exposed the severe case of denial she and all Democrats brought with them into the voting booth on November 8 of that year. The minority party’s collective fit continues to this day, most recently displayed by the Democrats’ heinous treatment of Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation process. Party members must go to sleep at night wondering, “What Happened?”, but until Democrats actually face reality their disorder will endure. For his part now-President Donald Trump appears baffled by a similar dilemma, the mystery of why Republicans aren’t way ahead in the polls despite extremely favorable objective factors. All the economic indicators are shooting through the proverbial roof these days, yet Republicans still lag behind where it counts – voter preference surveys. Trump proudly touted…

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ACLU Launches Million Dollar Ad Campaign Likening Kavanaugh To Bill Cosby, Bill Clinton

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by Hanna Bogorowski   The ACLU took another step against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh Monday after it launched a million dollar advertisement campaign opposing his nomination and likening the judge to convicted sexual predator Bill Cosby. The campaign targets a handful of Republican senators, including Sens. Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, as well as Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. The ACLU took the nontraditional step of opposing Kavanaugh’s nomination on Saturday, a move the supposedly non-partisan organization called “rare.” “In this instance, the national board held an extraordinary meeting, and has chosen to make an exception” to its policy of not supporting or opposing candidates for political offices or judicial office. The organization took this opposition one step further Monday when it announced it spent over $1 million in television advertisements urging said Republican senators to vote against Kavanaugh. “We’ve seen this before, denials from powerful men,” the ad begins, showing images of famous men accused of sexual assault, including disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein and former President Bill Clinton. “America is watching,” it warns. NEW: When we said we're going to use the full force of the ACLU…

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Senate Democrats Inadvertently Admit President Trump Can Order and Conclude FBI Investigations

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by Robert Romano   The Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 28 advanced to the Senate floor for a vote the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. But, retiring Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) did so conditionally, saying he would only support Kavanaugh on the floor if the FBI is ordered by President Donald Trump to conduct another background check on Kavanaugh in a limited period of time no longer than a week. The Committee then issued a statement saying it “will request that the administration instruct the FBI to conduct a supplemental FBI background investigation with respect to the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to be an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court. The supplemental FBI background investigation would be limited to current credible allegations against the nominee and must be completed no later than one week from today.” And then President Donald Trump ordered the additional background investigation, issuing a statement saying, “I’ve ordered the FBI to conduct a supplemental investigation to update Judge Kavanaugh’s file. As the Senate has requested, this update must be limited in scope and completed in less than one week.” Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats have already staked out this position at the Sept. 27 hearing.…

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What’s Ahead for US Supreme Court as It Starts New Term

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United States Supreme Court

by Masood Farivar   With Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hanging in the balance, the high court is scheduled to open its new term on Monday with oral arguments on a range of issues before eight ideologically divided justices. This is not the first time the high court has had a vacancy at the start of a new term. In 2016, the court faced a similar situation after Justice Antonin Scalia died earlier in the year and Republicans in the Senate refused to hold confirmation hearings for President Barack Obama’s nominee, keeping the seat vacant for nearly a year. If Kavanaugh wins confirmation, he is expected to provide a critical conservative vote that could tip the court’s balance on key issues this year and beyond. Legal experts say the justices may reschedule for re-argument some of the cases that have been set to be heard early in the term. The high court usually accepts less than 100 of the more than 7,000 cases it’s asked to review every year. So far this term, it has taken 44 cases with about half of them set for argument during October and November. Big cases coming Duke University law professor Brandon Garrett says…

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GOP Rep Jim Jordan Says Voters Have an Easy Choice In November Between Republican Results and Democratic ‘Craziness’

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by Nick Givas   GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio said voters have a clear choice between Republican results or Democratic “craziness” in November’s midterms when they go to the polls. “I think this election is really about two contrasting visions for where we’re going to take the country,” Jordan said on Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom” Friday. “I mean, I’ve never seen the Democrat Party take the extreme positions they are now taking.” “They applaud [Colin] Kaepernick when he disrespects the flag. They embrace [Andrew] Cuomo when he says America was never that great. And they cheer on Maxine Waters when she says go out and harass people who support the president of the United States. That is craziness.” Fox News’ America’s Newsroom tweeted the interview: WATCH: @BillHemmer got reaction from @Jim_Jordan ahead of the vote on Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination at 1:30 PM EST #nine2noon pic.twitter.com/Qa0pCcypNA — America's Newsroom (@AmericaNewsroom) September 28, 2018 Jordan said Democrats have assumed radical ideological positions and claimed their platform is in direct contrast to that of President Donald Trump. “That’s the position that the left has now taken in this country. Contrast that with the record under President Trump’s leadership,” he continued. “Taxes cut, regulations…

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Next Step: Democrats Pledge To Investigate Kavanaugh, Float Impeachment If He’s Confirmed

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by Peter Hasson   Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh might keep facing political attacks from the left if he is confirmed to the nation’s highest court. Kavanaugh faced an onslaught of attacks from Democrats and liberal activists even before Palo Alto University professor Christine Blasey Ford accused him of drunkenly trying to force himself on her while the two were in high school. Kavanaugh denied Ford’s accusation once again in an emotional testimony Thursday. Brian Fallon, former press secretary on Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign, predicted Kavanaugh “will not serve for life” if confirmed to the Supreme Court. Fallon leads Demand Justice, a Democratic dark money group dedicated to opposing Kavanaugh’s confirmation, and previously called for Kavanaugh to be impeached from his current position on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. “If Senate GOP ignores Dr. Blasey Ford and tries to muscle an attempted rapist onto the Supreme Court: 1. They will pay dearly this November. 2. Senators up in 2020 (Collins, Gardner et al) will feel intense heat for next two years. 3. Kavanaugh will not serve for life,” Fallon predicted. If Senate GOP ignores Dr. Blasey Ford and tries to muscle an attempted rapist onto the Supreme Court:1. They will pay dearly this November.2. Senators up in…

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Commentary: The Senate, Not the FBI, Confirms Supreme Court Justices

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by Robert Romano   Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution states that “The president shall… nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint… judges of the supreme court…” Those are the simple words that outline the process prescribed by the U.S. Constitution for confirming Supreme Court justices. The President nominates a justice, in the current case Judge Brett Kavanaugh, and the Senate advises and then either consents or not to the nomination. Not the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is not even in the Constitution. It seems that Senate Democrats were more interested in asking Judge Kavanaugh what he thought the appropriate process for hearing the allegations of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford was than to ask him about those allegations. To his credit, Kavanaugh did not give the committee Democrats what they wanted, which was a sound bite calling for an FBI investigation into himself. What a preposterous line of questioning. The FBI cannot even bring a charge of sexual assault against Kavanaugh or anyone else. As it is, Kavanaugh has already been subject to six FBI background checks throughout his career, which is really all that would happen here. A statement by the…

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Tennessee Star EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Lamar Alexander Stands Strong in Support of Brett Kavanaugh’s Confirmation to the Supreme Court

Tennessee Star Staff

NASHVILLE, Tennessee–Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) reaffirmed his strong support for the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in an exclusive interview late Friday afternoon at his Senate offices in Nashville with Tennessee Star political editor and host of The Tennessee Star Report, heard weekday mornings from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. on Talkradio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC, Steve Gill. Alexander’s remarks came after the Senate Judiciary Committee’s 11 to 10 party line vote to favorably recommend Kavanaugh’s nomination for a floor vote in the Senate, but minutes before President Trump instructed the FBI to conduct a supplemental investigation into the allegations against Judge Kavanaugh, limited to one week in duration. Trump’s order came after Sen. Jeff Flake’s (R-AZ) last minute demand that such an investigation be conducted. “As we sit here on a Friday when this whole Kavanaugh confirmation process is still in flux, now, apparently, a request for an FBI investigation, it may be voted next week early or late, as you kind of look at it right now, where do you see it going, again, while we know it changes minute by minute,” Gill said. “Well, I don’t want to predict what will happen because, who knows what…

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POLL: Smears Of Kavanaugh Motivating Voters Against ‘Radical and Unscrupulous’ Democrats

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by CHQ Staff   Conservatives see the confirmation vote on Judge Brett Kavanaugh as the issue that will allow Republicans to not only hold but even expand their Senate majority this fall, according to a poll by FedUp PAC. A large majority of 91.4% say that campaigning in support of Kavanaugh allows the GOP to highlight how “radical and unscrupulous” the Democrats have become.  Another 5.3% fear that Kavanaugh has been seriously tarnished by the uncorroborated accusations, and that Republicans should campaign on local issues without mentioning Kavanaugh.  Only 3.3% are undecided. The first round of Kavanaugh hearings demonstrated that the radical Democrats would not vote for any nominee who demonstrated faithfulness to the Constitution and the laws as written.  Instead they demanded that the Supreme Court become a left-wing legislature, imposing as the “law of the land” rulings for which many elected Democrats dare not vote. The unscrupulous nature of the Democrats was shown by their waiting until just before the committee vote on Kavanaugh, then springing the unlikely and uncorroborated story of Christine Blasey Ford, using it for delay and more delay.  When it appeared that the committee was finally moving toward a vote, they pulled yet another wild…

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Blasey Ford Says She Can’t Remember If She Gave Therapist Notes To A Reporter, But WaPo Claims They Had Them

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by Hanna Bogorowski   During Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, Blasey Ford said she could not remember if she directly gave reporters her therapist notes from 2012. The Washington Post‘s article by Emma Brown revealed Sept. 16 the identity of the woman behind the anonymous letter sent to Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California alleging Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school. In the report, Blasey Ford says she never told anyone of the incident until 2012 during a couples therapy session, and WaPo appeared to claim it had obtained a portion of the therapist’s notes. She alleges Kavanaugh pinned her down on a bed and attempted to remove her clothing forcibly. “Ford said she told no one of the incident in any detail until 2012, when she was in couples therapy with her husband,” the report reads. “The therapist’s notes, portions of which were provided by Ford and reviewed by The Washington Post, do not mention Kavanaugh’s name but say she reported that she was attacked by students ‘from an elitist boys’ school’ who went on to become ‘highly respected and high-ranking members of society in Washington.’” “The notes say four boys…

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Sharia Law Advocate Linda Sarsour Arrested Again – This Time While Blocking Streets Outside Supreme Court

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by Henry Rodgers   Women’s March leader Linda Sarsour was arrested while protesting against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh Thursday afternoon. Sarsour, who has been arrested numerous times, including at Kavanaugh’s Sept. 4 confirmation hearing, was spotted inside the Hart Senate Office Building around 10 a.m. with dozens of protesters, before leading a march with the group outside of the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court. A group of protesters and Sarsour were seen sitting in the middle of the street in front of the Supreme Court hours later. After being asked to move multiple times, police arrested Sarsour and dozens of others of protesters. #CancelKavanaugh: @womensmarch leaders Linda Sarsour & Bob Bland started a chant of “arrest Trump” while being led away. pic.twitter.com/xnHa1GCnHb — Alejandro Alvarez 🫡 (@aletweetsnews) September 27, 2018 Kavanaugh was testifying in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Daily Caller News Foundation asked Sarsour what her plans were before the arrest. She refused to comment.  – – – Henry Rodgers is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation. Follow Henry on Twitter. Photo “Linda Sarsour” by Festival of Faiths CC2.0                     Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without…

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Commentary: The Suicidal Sanctimony of Phony Conservatives

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by Chris Buskirk   Christine Blasey Ford made scurrilous accusations against Brett Kavanaugh for actions she claims occurred nearly 35 years ago when they were both minors. Both Judge Kavanaugh and Mark Judge, who Ford also claims was present have vehemently and categorically denied her claims. The people who know Kavanaugh, as well as decades of evidence of a life lived with dignity and propriety, support him. Even one of the people Ford claims was a witness denies her claims. Ford says that Leland Keyser was a friend of hers and was at the party in 1982. But Keyser says she has no recollection of the party. Not only that, she denies knowing or ever being in a social situation with Kavanaugh. Keyser’s statement calls into question whether the party occurred at all, which would make Ford’s claims against Kavanaugh entirely false. Predictably, however, Ford has been joined by Stormy Daniels’ execrable mouthpiece, Michael Avenatti. Now a Yale classmate is making claims about some nudity at a dorm party, which have been questioned or denied by people who were allegedly there. So why are some self-described conservatives signing up to help this circus along? What’s Different Now False accusations and smear…

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Steve Osborne Commentary: #ConfirmKavanaugh Now

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by Steve Osborne   The Kavanaugh hearings have devolved into a disgraceful spectacle. As his accuser’s accusation falls apart, another accuser mysteriously appeared over the weekend saying the judge acted inappropriately during his freshman year in college. If you haven’t figured it out by now, let me tell you that this whole charade is an orchestrated attempt by the democrats, hoping to delay a vote on Kavanaugh’s appointment to SCOTUS. The Democrats see that there’s a possibility of retaking the majority in the senate. If they can delay the vote on Kavanaugh until after the midterm elections, the judge won’t get the necessary votes to be confirmed. All the while, the judge’s family has to endure unfounded mudslinging all for the sake of unseemly politics. Sadly, we’ve seen this movie before. The Honorable Robert Bork, nominated for SCOTUS by President Reagan, was publicly and unjustly ripped to shreds during his confirmation hearing, and failed to get the necessary votes to confirm his nomination. Justice Clarence Thomas was similarly defamed during his confirmation hearing by a democrat operative named Anita Hill. Thankfully, Justice Thomas, knowing Anita was a setup, read a statement prior to his vote in which he excoriated the…

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Expert: Failure By the Republicans to Confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh Could Mean Annihilation in November

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Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump

By Robert Romano     The GOP Senate has one very important job, and that is to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, maintaining the balance of power on the nation’s highest court. When Justice Anthony Kennedy retired, it was a gift to Republicans, giving them an opportunity to confirm a replacement that would be nominated by a Republican president and confirmed by a Republican Senate. To highlight the importance of Kavanaugh’s confirmation, one need only look through the prism of time to see what lies ahead should he be delayed or defeated. If Kavanaugh is held up or voted down, it will be because a few — and that’s all it will take — Senate Republicans who sabotaged their own party by scuttling the confirmation. If Senate Republicans fail here and now, there likely won’t be enough time to confirm an alternate to Kavanaugh before 2019. It would be a betrayal of Republicans voters who wanted a constitutionalist majority on the court to interpret the law as written, and could risk suppressing conservative turnout in the 2018 midterm elections in November. Put simply, the GOP simply cannot afford to lose the Kavanaugh confirmation. Senate Democrats, should they wrest…

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Kavanaugh Accuser Wants to Testify Next Week, Her Lawyers Say

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The woman accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her three decades ago when they were in high school wants to testify next week before a Senate panel, her lawyers told committee aides Thursday. The lawyers said that California psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford “would be prepared to testify next week,” as long as the lawmakers offered “terms that are fair and which ensure her safety,” news outlets reported. The Senate Judiciary Committee had scheduled a Monday hearing and invited Ford to testify then about what she has alleged happened in 1982 at a house party in suburban Washington. She contends Kavanaugh, then 17 and “stumbling drunk,” pinned her to a bed and groped her, leaving her fearful for her life before she escaped. ‘Strong preference’ for full probe Ford’s lawyers said her testimony Monday “is not possible and the committee’s insistence that it occur then is arbitrary in any event.” They said Ford’s “strong preference” is that “a full investigation” be completed before her testimony, but stopped short of demanding an FBI probe and seemed to suggest that she would testify without one. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, had given Ford, who was…

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Bredsen Still Equivocating on How He Would Vote on Kavanaugh SCOTUS Nomination, Says Accuser ‘Has a Very Credible Story’ Despite Lack of Corroboration

Tennessee Star Staff

Phil Bredesen, the Democrat candidate for the U.S. Senate seat in Tennessee being vacated by Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), is still equivocating on how he would vote if he were in the U.S. Senate now and required to vote on the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, nominated by President Trump to serve on the Supreme Court. In contrast to Bredesen, his Republican opponent, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) remains fully in support of confirming Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Late Wednesday, Bredesen told the Associated Press that Professor Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has accused Kavanaugh of attempting to sexually assault her more than 35 years ago but has provided no corroborating evidence or witnesses, “has a very credible story .” “But he said the Judiciary Committee should consider proceeding with a vote if she does not testify under oath,” the Associated Press reported, adding: “She has put herself out there,” Bredesen said of Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Kavanaugh of assaulting her while they were both in high school. “If she decided at this point to not do something, I guess the committee has to go ahead and say, ‘Well, we were willing to listen, but if she’s not…

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Calls for New FBI Probe of Kavanaugh Have No Precedent

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by Fred Lucas   An FBI inquiry into a California woman’s allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh would be highly unusual, but wouldn’t necessarily delay a Senate vote on confirmation, legal experts said. Christine Blasey Ford, a professor of clinical psychology at Palo Alto University in California, alleges that Kavanaugh attempted to sexually assault her when the two were teenagers in suburban Maryland in the early 1980s. The Senate Judiciary Committee was scheduled to reconvene Monday to hear from both Ford, 51, and Kavanaugh, 53, a judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia since 2006. But Tuesday night, Ford’s lawyer asked for an FBI investigation into the matter before Ford would talk to the committee. “Dr. Ford’s request is in reverse order,” Michael J. Clark, a former 22-year FBI agent, told The Daily Signal. “If she does not come forward for a Senate hearing, the Senate is chasing its tail.” Clark, who lectures in the criminal justice department of the University of New Haven, said the Senate then could decide to ask the FBI to look at the matter further. “She should testify so senators can determine if she is credible,” Clark said.…

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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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What to Expect When the Supreme Court Returns

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Supreme Court of the United States

by Elizabeth Slattery   Monday, Oct. 1, marks the start of a new Supreme Court term. With conservative victories in numerous cases (NIFLA, the so-called “travel ban,” Masterpiece Cakeshop, Janus, and more), the previous term is summed up best by then-candidate Donald Trump: “We’re going to win so much, you’re going to be so sick and tired of winning.” Will conservatives keep the streak alive? The upcoming term may not have quite as many high-profile, headline-grabbing cases, but the justices will nevertheless hear a number of cases raising important issues. Here are a few of the cases coming up in October: Weyerhaeuser Company v. US Fish and Wildlife Service What happens when the government decides private land is “critical habitat” for an animal that can’t survive there and hasn’t lived in the area for half a century? The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated 1,500 acres of land in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, as “critical habitat” for the endangered dusky gopher frog (also known as the Mississippi gopher frog, named for its natural habitat). In the early 20th century, these frogs could be found throughout the Gulf Coast—from Louisiana to Alabama. But today, they are not found in the wild outside Harrison County, Mississippi.…

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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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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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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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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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As Kavanaugh Hearings Loom, One Minnesota Senate Democrat Regrets Abolishing Filibuster

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by Kevin Daley   Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said Sunday that her party should not have invoked the so-called nuclear option and abolished the legislative filibuster for judicial nominees. The remarks come just before Judge Brett Kavanaugh will appear for confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Republican lawmakers expect Kavanaugh will be confirmed if he acquits himself well at the hearings. “I would’ve liked to see 60 votes, no matter what the judge is,” Klobuchar told NBC. “I don’t think we should’ve made that change, when we look back at it. But it happened because we were so frustrated, because President Obama wasn’t able to get his nominees.” But Klobuchar added that neither party is likely to reimpose the filibuster over judicial nominations, since doing so would cede a huge tactical advantage. “I don’t think anyone’s going to want to hamstring themselves,” she said. Democrats changed Senate rules in 2013 after a protracted Republican filibuster blocked three Obama nominees to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the court on which Kavanaugh sits. All three nominees, Judges Nina Pillard, Patricia Millett, and Robert Wilkins, were later confirmed. The GOP followed suit in 2017 when Democrats successfully filibustered Justice Neil Gorsuch’s…

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Poll: Conservatives See Democrats Working for Minority Rule Through Supreme Court

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Brett Kavanaugh

by CHQ Staff   Conservatives see Democrat opposition to Judge Brett Kavanaugh as opposition to majority rule itself, according to a poll by FedUp PAC. An almost unanimous 99% say that liberal Democrats “rely on the courts to overrule the majority” of Americans and that they oppose any judge who “would rule impartially according to the Constitution and the laws.” Democrats have relied on Supreme Court rulings to impose abortion on demand and homosexual marriage, as well as to nearly abolish the death penalty through a maze of restrictions and limitations. Kavanaugh is known as a judge who can be expected to rule in accordance with the text and intent of the Constitution and the law, and is unlikely to discover “rights” that had somehow escaped notice during more than two centuries under the Constitution.   By replacing Justice Anthony Kennedy, Kavanaugh would reduce to four the number of Supreme Curt justices who have shown a propensity for rewriting the Constitution. The four justices appointed by Presidents Clinton and Obama have often treated it as a “living” document subject the change by a five-vote majority on the Court rather than by the amendment process. President Trump nominated Judge Kavanaugh, who is…

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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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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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The Janus Decision Scored a Major Win for Workers’ Rights – Here’s What Should Come Next

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United States Supreme Court

by David Kreutzer and Rachel Greszler   Last month’s Supreme Court decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees hit public-sector unions like a bombshell. Now that public-sector unions can no longer extract union fees from workers who want nothing to do with them, public unions will have to work harder to provide services that will prompt workers to join their ranks. The question explored in the Janus case was whether or not forcing non-members to pay union dues violates their First Amendment rights. That issue was addressed narrowly as a matter of free speech, but more broadly it had much to do with wrongful coercion. Both members and non-members of public-sector unions can opt out of paying the portion of dues that explicitly goes to the union’s political activities. But, until recently, non-members could still be forced by law to pay what was called a “fair share” fee, because even non-members could receive the benefits of union representation (since unions have a monopoly on worker-employer negotiations). [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] Those forced fees would not explicitly go toward…

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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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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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Commentary: The Next Supreme Court Justice Must Uphold the Principles of Individual Liberty

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Supreme Court of the United States

By Natalia Castro   Each year on Independence Day, we celebrate the historic achievement our Founding Fathers made when they left an oppressive government to form a new country based around the principles of freedom. The Founding Fathers learned from the actions of their previous government and, after outlining the principles of equality and justice in the Declaration of Independence, created a new government which protected every individual’s right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Today, we cannot forget why our Founding Fathers left their previous government and why we must continue protecting our liberties with a Supreme Court candidate who sees the value in individual freedom as much today as our Founding Fathers did over 200 years ago. Pilgrims boarded the Mayflower in search of religious freedom. English common law made criticizing the government in print a crime in the colonies. In 1733, John Peter Zenger was arrested for writing critical articles against the British Governor of New York. Before the Revolutionary War, the British placed a ban on imported firearms and gunpowder. These are only some examples of the very reasons our Founding Fathers desired independence. These are also some of the reasons why the Bill of…

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Commentary: Don’t Allow Senators Like Schumer & Collins to Blow Up Trump’s Next Supreme Court Pick

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Chuck Schumer, Susan Collins

by Jeffery Rendall   “Dang-it!” Chuck Schumer exclaimed to staff gathered in his senate Minority Leader’s office after Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement last week. “I thought Steve Breyer already convinced Kennedy to stay another year and now this,” Schumer dribbled exasperatedly, spittle forming at the corners of his mouth like a rabid raccoon in its final death throes. “We’re gonna have a tough enough time of it as it is saving our people this November…and if we can’t stop Trump from plopping another one of his originalist Constitution-stooges onto the Supreme Court, why would anyone be motivated to vote for us?” Schumer’s underlings stood uneasily around the 67-year-old New Yorker as though he was on the verge of exploding into one of his legendary fits of rage or would merely experience a pathetic meltdown and cry on the floor in the fetal position as he’s prone to do in times of stress. It’s no secret the man affectionately known as “Chucky” (an allusion to the infamous animated movie doll serial murderer) has aged considerably since taking over for “dingy” Harry Reid as leader of the hapless minority senate Democrats last year. “Donald Trump was supposed to be an idiot that no one…

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Kethledge Rising, As SCOTUS Infighting Reaches Fever Pitch

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Kethledge

by Kevin Daley and Saagar Enjeti   Judge Raymond Kethledge’s interview with President Donald Trump has placed him in serious contention to succeed Justice Anthony Kennedy on the U.S. Supreme Court, multiple sources tell The Daily Caller News Foundation. Sources with knowledge of the process told TheDCNF that Kethledge had a strong interview with the president, and remains under very serious consideration. Other knowledgeable sources say Judge Amy Barrett’s interview with Trump was satisfactory and that she remains viable for a Supreme Court appointment, either now or in the future. The strength of Kethledge’s meeting, however, seems to have scrambled the field. Bloomberg also reported that Trump was impressed with Kethledge. The fluidity of the process has prompted an intense shadow campaign, as surrogates lobby and spin aggressively for their preferred candidate. Conservative legal Washington has splintered into competing camps, all of whom are racing to gain Trump’s ear. The situation resembles Chief Justice John Roberts’ appointment to the Supreme Court, in which professional conservatives splintered between frontrunners J. Harvie Wilkinson and Michael Luttig, as Jan Crawford’s 2007 account of Bush-era confirmations reported. Sources familiar with the president’s thinking say he has seen a deluge of pressure from all camps but maintains an…

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President Trump Meets with Supreme Court Candidates

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Donald Trump

President Donald Trump says he met Monday with four candidates for the Supreme Court and plans to meet with two to three more as he seeks to nominate a replacement to succeed retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. Trump told reporters in Washington Monday that the candidates he met with are “incredible people in so many different ways, academically and in every other way.” White House Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump met with each candidate for roughly 45 minutes on Monday. She did not reveal the names of the candidates but said Trump is looking for someone who will uphold the U.S. Constitution and who has the “right intellect” and “right temperament.” When asked if Trump is looking for a candidate that will overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court ruling on abortion, Sanders reiterated Trump’s stance that he is not asking the candidates their views on abortion rights. “The president is pro-life, but in terms of the process of selecting a Supreme Court nominee, as the president said last week, he is not going to discuss specific cases with the nominees,” Sanders said. Trump said Friday that he thinks the topic of Roe v. Wade is “inappropriate…

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Commentary: How Do You Spell Game Change in 2018? S U P R E M E C O U R T

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Supreme Court Justices

by Jeffery Rendall   Another Kennedy leaving Washington has Republicans giddy, though this particular one has no relation to the famous (infamous?) clan from Massachusetts Bay. It’s old news by now but Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy announced he’s stepping down from the Supreme Court on Wednesday, sending the nation’s capital into a tizzy and wiping virtually everything else – including the phony illegal immigrant family separation “crisis” – off the news wires. There’s nothing quite like an impending Court vacancy to wrest the political chatterers’ attention from their all-complain-all-the-time stupors and get them focused on something really imperative. Yes, Kennedy’s deciding to hang up the long black robe after three full decades is a big deal, not only for the future direction of the Supreme Court but also for Americans’ liberties in general. Needless to say, this year’s crucial midterm campaigns just received a shot of new energy and enthusiasm, especially for Republicans in red states challenging increasingly vulnerable Democrat senate incumbents. It’s often said fortunes can turn on a dime and it may actually come true for Republicans — and conversely, Democrats — this year. While conservatives received Kennedy’s news with happiness and anticipation, the anti-Trump resistance was angry, defiant…

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Blackburn Distinguishes Self From Bredesen in Competing Statements on Retiring Justice Kennedy’s Replacement

John Bryant
Marsha Blackburn, Phil Bredesen

Both Tennessee candidates for U.S. Senate weighed in and the length of tone of their responses would appear to make it clear Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) sees this as a clear winning issue for her campaign. Bredesen’s statement was predictable political blather, at best. Bredesen said a candidate’s character and qualifications are more important than party lines. “I just think we have such a partisan mess in Washington right now,” Bredesen said Wednesday in Nashville. “This is a real chance to start unwinding that in something that is very visible and important to the country.” Blackburn also released a statement on Twitter, calling the confirmation of Supreme Court justices “one of the Senate’s most important responsibilities.” “As Tennessee’s next senator, I will be committed to confirming more judges, like Neil Gorsuch, who will honor and uphold our Constitution,” Blackburn said. “I will vote to confirm good constitutional justices who will not be activists and legislate from the bench.” In a statement Wednesday, Blackburn said that Tennesseans want a justice “who will respect both the Constitution and the rule of law.” “They do not want an activist Supreme Court Justice who will seek to legislate from the bench,” she said. “As…

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