JUDGE DREAD
Kav clears hurdle for OK as Dems rage
It has only just begun.
Following three days of protests in Washington, D.C., tensions are expected to reach a boiling point on Saturday, as the Senate moves to confirm an accused sex assailant as the next justice on the Supreme Court.
Police started barricading the Capitol and the Supreme Court building just hours after Sens. Susan Collins (RMaine) and Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) announced their support for Brett Kavanaugh, all but locking in the controversial nominee.
On Saturday, senators only have to convene to formally confirm him.
Throngs of demonstrators plan to crowd cities from coast-to-coast to protest the presumptive new high court justice, with the biggest gatherings expected in the capital and outside Trump Tower in Manhattan.
The anger was palpable even before Collins threw her support behind Kavanuagh, with demonstrators streaming into the Senate chamber, drowning out the first few seconds of her speech by repeatedly shouting, “Vote no!”
After Manchin announced his support for the beleaguered nominee in a statement, women surrounded the red state Democrat near the Capitol and screamed, “Shame! Shame! Shame!”
Inside Senate office buildings, groups of protesters clashed with Kavanaugh supporters and Capitol Police said they were investigating a female demonstrator for allegedly assaulting a man outside Collins’ office.
A similar scene unraveled outside the offices of Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), who gained restrained praise from protesters last week after demanding an FBI investigation into the sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh, only to announce his support for him on Friday.
“Stop Kavanaugh!” the demonstrators screamed.
In New York, women voiced their disgust with a nominee who they consider politically fraught and morally flawed.
“I’m extremely disturbed,” Andrea Davis, 59, a native of Kew Gardens, told the Daily News after Friday’s devel-
opment. “Putting aside the sexual assault, look at him. This is the icing on the cake. He’s incredibly conservative, and his views are mind blowing.”
Davis added, “This is probably going to escalate. … I think there’s going to be riots in the streets.”
Kavanaugh, a 53-year-old appeals court judge and longtime conservative who critics fear will undermine abortion rights, has been accused of sexually assaulting at least three women. His nomination was thrown into jeopardy as Trump caved to Democratic demands last month and ordered the FBI to investigate the disturbing claims.
But Trump has faced blistering criticism from Senate Democrats for ceding authority to GOP leaders, who barred the FBI from interviewing key witnesses, including Kavanaugh himself and his main accuser, Christine Blasey Ford.
Columbia University student Halley Ramos echoed the Democratic sentiment.
“Republicans and Trump were making a mockery out of a sexual assault victim,” said Ramos, 25, who’s originally from New Mexico. “It’s one thing to say we don’t have enough evidence to pursue this, but what’s more ridiculous is that they didn’t conduct a criminal investigation.”
Republicans have also refused to publicly release the FBI’s findings. “It was a farce,” Davis said. Ahead of the announcement from Collins and Manchin, protesters gathered outside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s D.C. home to throw a “confirmation kegger” — a tonguein-cheek-jab at Kavanaugh’s self-professed love of beer and intense adolescent drinking habits.
“What do we do with a drunken justice early in the morning?” the demonstrators chanted while cracking cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon.
Lightheartedness aside, several people who spoke with The News on Friday faulted the Senate for putting a man on the highest court of the land who during one of his confirmation hearings screamed, broke into tears and claimed without evidence that the sexual assault accusations against him were the result of an anti-Trump conspiracy. By contrast, at the same hearing, a soft-spoken Dr. Ford outlined in excruciating detail how Kavanaugh allegedly forced her into a room at a drunken high school party in the 1980s, groped her and tried to rip her clothes off.
“It’s very disheartening,” said Brooklyn resident Rachel Joyce, 32, herself a survivor of sexual assault. “This week has been very hard . ... The state of politics right now is really tough. I think a lot of women are in pain.”
Queens native Cathryn Cylinder called the “entire Republican Party” a “disgrace” and said she hopes the GOP suffers massive defeats in next month’s congressional midterms as a result of Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
“I’m waiting until Nov. 6 for that blue wave,” Cylinder, 64, said. “Kavanaugh is going to be on that court long after I’m gone. And that’s terrible.”
Hyacinth Williams, an East New York resident originally from Jamaica, gave Kavanaugh the benefit of the doubt.
“Who is perfect on this planet?” said Williams, who’s in her 80s. “I think he will do a good job. He knows the country, the nation and the world will be watching.”
Elena Daboul, a 32-yearold Manhattan resident, disagreed.
“F--k them,” Daboul said. “They’re having a possible rapist on the Supreme Court. It feels like all the progress we’ve made is being flushed down the toilet. We get one step forward and go 100 steps back.”