Democrats ready for Kavanaugh

Trump Supreme Court pick faces tough Congress hearing

United States President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is expected to face punishing questioning from Democrats this week over his endorsement of presidential immunity and his opposition to abortion.

Some two dozen witnesses are lined up to argue for and against confirming Kavanaugh, who could swing the ninemember high court decidedly in conservatives’ favor for years to come. Democrats mobilized heavily to prevent his approval.

They argue that while Trump faces investigation for alleged obstruction of justice and possible collusion by his campaign with Russia, he should not be able to choose a judge who could cast a decisive vote in his case.

When Kavanaugh appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday for the first of up to four days of hearings, Democrats aim to show his record as a judge and a former White House legal counsel is colored by extremist views.

They are especially concerned that his vote might allow the Supreme Court to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case, which gave women the right to have an abortion.

They are concerned about his views that the president should be immune from prosecution while in office – issues that could come before the Supreme Court if Special Counsel Robert Mueller determines Trump violated laws.

“President Trump promised to appoint justices who would automatically overturn Roe v. Wade, and be pro-gun,” Senator Dianne Feinstein, senior Democrat on the committee, said Friday. “We have no reason to doubt that Kavanaugh would fulfill that promise.”

Added Senator Richard Blumenthal, another Democrat on the committee, “There will be sparks at this hearing.”

Kavanaugh, a 53-year-old conservative Catholic from a wealthy Washington suburb, has the backing of powerful right-wing judicial groups and deeply religious evangelical Christians – both of which are key constituents of the Republican voter base.

“How did Donald Trump get 82 percent of the evangelical Christian vote? ... Because of the Supreme Court,” said University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato.