Kavanaugh works Capitol Hill, Dems warn of rightward tilt

WASHINGTON - Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh returned to Capitol Hill Wednesday for a whirlwind round of meetings with key Republican senators as Democrats ramped up efforts to block his confirmation. Kavanaugh, the conservative appellate court judge President Donald Trump chose to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, met separately with Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, who called the judge “a very fine man,” and was to confer with Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and other senators. At Hatch’s office in the Capitol, the senator told reporters he expects Kavanaugh’s confirmation to go well. “There will be the usual attempts to sully his reputation not only in the Senate but outside the Senate, but he’ll be able to handle it and I have every confidence he’ll be confirmed,” Hatch said.