Senator Heidi Heitkamp, D-ND, asks Agriculture Deputy Secretary Krysta Harden a question about the agriculture industry’s role in combating global hunger, during a Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry hearing at the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015. USDA photo by Lance Cheung.
The Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal gets to the heart of the matter. Democrats don’t care about Christine Blasey Ford, they simply want to delay a vote on Brett Kavanaugh or any other Trump nominee until after the election, so vulnerable Democrat senators, like Heidi Heitkamp, Joe Manchin and Jon Tester aren’t forced to make an unpopular vote. The Board writes:
The real Democratic goal is to push a confirmation vote past Election Day. They can then spare their incumbents running for re-election from taking a difficult vote. If they win the election, they will then try to block any confirmation until they take over the Senate in January. No nominee to the right of Merrick Garland would then be confirmed in the final two years of the Trump Presidency. The Supreme Court would be divided 4-4 until 2021 at least.
Senate Republicans should understand that these are the real political stakes. This nomination isn’t only about the fate of a single man whose reputation can be discarded like some tabloid celebrity. This is about the future of the Supreme Court and who will control the Senate. If Republicans reject Mr. Kavanaugh based on what we know now, millions of voters will rightly be furious.
But as important, a rejection will bring dishonor to the Senate. It will validate the ambush and smear politics that Democrats are using. And it will turn Supreme Court nominations over to the justice of the social-media mob and the politics of accusation. It’s time for Senators to stand up and confirm Brett Kavanaugh.
Read more here.
