Blumenthal to boycott SCOTUS nominee meeting
WASHINGTON — A key Democrat in the confirmation process, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., will not meet with President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, he announced Thursday, in act of boycott against a proceeding he views as unfair.
Blumenthal said he will not meet with a nominee in a confirmation process that starts before the inauguration on Jan. 20. Trump intends to announce his nominee Friday or Saturday and Republicans plan to quickly confirm that person to the court, possibly beginning hearings the week of Oct. 12.
Blumenthal’s decision to skip a traditional private meeting with the nominee was a personal one, his spokeswoman Maria McElwain said, not a group decision made by Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He also declined to meet with Justice Brett Kavanaugh, when he
was Trump’s nominee in 2018.
Blumenthal made this announcement on Twitter Thursday saying, “I refuse to legitimize this broken, weaponized process by meeting with any nominee put forward before the inauguration.”
Republicans are moving to quickly confirm a replacement for the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, possibly seeking a final confirmation vote before the election or at latest, before the end of Trump’s first term.
On Capitol Hill, Blumenthal has been emphatic that no Supreme Court nominee should be confirmed until after the election and after the next Senate is sworn in — giving Democrats a chance to seize both if they win in November. Senate Democrats have attacked Republicans for pushing forward with the nomination so close to the election although in 2016 they held up a Democratic nominee to the court for months before the election, claiming the American people should have a voice in the confirmation with their vote.
Senate Democrats held a phone call Tuesday to strategize how to delay the confirmation process.
“A lot of ideas were put on the table,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., on
Wednesday. “We’ll come to a consensus on it. Ultimately, Republicans can change any rules they want with 50 votes... we’re going to use every mechanism at our disposal that makes sense. Ultimately, they control the rules; they control the timing.”
Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Wednesday of the confirmation process, “My hope is we’ll be able to do it in a fashion that we can not deviate from the norms too much.”
Other Democratic senators, including Judiciary member Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, have also said they won’t meet with the Supreme Court nominee, Politico reported. In 2018, some Democrats refused to meet with the nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
In 2017, Blumenthal’s private meeting with nominee Neil Gorsuch made headlines after Gorsuch told Blumenthal he found
Trump’s attacks on the courts “disheartening” and “demoralizing,” creating some separation between the conservative justice and the president.
Asked about meeting with a nominee Wednesday, Blumenthal said, “I have questions I think should be asked of any nominee and most particularly of the top two or three that have been suggested, but part of what we need to do, which is part of the normal process, is to review all of the writings, all of the public statements, all of the speeches, all of the background on every nominee. Republicans, seemingly are loathe to give us that opportunity.”
“I’m focused on the Judiciary Committee right now, what we can do to make sure the next president and the next Senate choose the next justice,” Blumenthal added Wednesday. “This process is not normal. There is nothing normal about it no matter who the nominee is. This process totally lacks legitimacy and
I’m focused on the steps we can take in the days and weeks to ensure the vote on this nominee occurs after the election and the inauguration.”
Trump is expected to announce his nominee Friday or Saturday. Confirmation hearings may start the week of Oct. 12, Blumenthal said.
“If you think logically about the time table here and the hearing occurs on Oct. 12., which is about the soonest that it could be done because they at least have to do a show FBI investigation – they have to have the appearance of following the requisite steps – the vote in committee probably would be the last week of October and then the vote on the floor, literally days before the election,” Blumenthal said. “It is mindboggling what they are doing in making a mockery of Supreme Court confirmations.”