Judiciary Committee to Vote on Kavanaugh Nomination

The court's term is set to start on Monday. Speaking before the Senate Judiciary Committee just yesterday, Kavanaugh blamed partisanship for the accusations against him. This whole two week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit, fueled with apparent pent up anger about President Trump and the two

thousand and sixteen election. Bloomberg News White House reporter Justin st joining us now in our Bloomberg studios here in Washington, d C. All Right, Justin, does appear like this vote is going to be going forward, But there are a lot of groups that are are asking for a delay, not just Democrats, the American Bar Association one of them, just to get an investigation underway for some context here, Yeah, exactly.

I mean, I think what you've seen here is a real dichotomy, and it was expressed by what Judge Kavanaugh said in the hearing where he is sort of accused Democrats of orchestrating a witch hunt against him. That that's something that we've heard echoed by Republicans really actively. And so on one side, you've got somebody who says, I didn't do this, it wasn't me. Uh, and you guys

are trying a political hitch job. On the other hand, obviously, we heard extremely compelling testimony yesterday from from Dr Ford who came forward, told her story, sat for questions for for multiple hours in front of the Senate. There were no moments that cast any doubt on on her testimony.

And so you have her and Democrats and some of these outside legal groups who are saying, uh, at the very least, these claims deserve more investigation and more looking at the difference, of course, is that Republicans control the committee and the Senate, and so uh if you see that they don't find her claims to be credible. Uh. The the action that they seem to be kind of going forward is not just bringing this to the full floor of the Senate, but but moving ahead with a

confirmation vote. All right, then, um, bottom line is Kevin all gonna get confirmed next week or not? It really hinges on I think a couple of votes. Susan Collins,

Lisa Murkowski. Uh, we heard earlier this morning that Jeff Flake, the Republican Senator from Arizona who during the questioning yesterday did not join his colleagues and sort of describing the investigation or the proceedings yesterday is as a political attempt by Democrats, who who seemed to at least take Dr Ford's testimony seriously in the moment, said that he would vote both to to move her or to move Kavanaugh's nomination forward, but also for his confirmation. That for opponents

of Kavanaugh was a pretty devastating blow. There's a chance that those Republican women, uh, kind of sweeping at the last minute and say that that they're not going to vote for him. Democrats seem to be holding the line for their part, but but I think oddsmakers would certainly say that they expect him to be sitting on the

court next week. Yeah, there are some folks who were talking about the Kavanaugh specifically and some of the things that he had said and some of the way, some of the how he said it, Um and how there is some concern that he might be showing his political slip a little bit, that he's more political than he is judicial. It was certainly, I think an unprecedented display in front of UM, in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

I think candidates, especially candidates for the Supreme Court, often strive to make their nominations appear nonpartisan, non political, even though they obvious they are appointed by presidents and have histories that that might betray um where they come down politically. There is a lot of effort put into not doing that. What we saw from britt Cavanaugh yesterday was charging Democrats angrily with a broad political conspiracy. He evoked the Clintons,

he evoked to President Trump. He really painted the proceedings and starkly political terms. Now that being said, uh, it may have been the move that he needed to take to to make sure that he was on the Supreme Court, because after the testimony of Dr Ford, I think the reaction, uh, not just sort of in the Twitter sphere or or on cable TV, but at the White House and among Republicans on Capitol Hill was that she was extremely credible, that she was believable, and that his nomination was in

some real trouble. So I think, uh, the approach that he took was an orthodox but but did seem to turn this back into the kind of earths versus skins, Democrats versus Republican matrix that that makes it easier for for some Republicans who might be on the fence to

sort of back their party on this vote. And I assume that there's a full court press at the White House to get Kavanaugh confirmed, and that includes I believe a trip to West Virginia tomorrow by President Trump, which would put pressure on the Democratic senator there, Joe Manson, Yeah exactly. Um, Joe Manson's facing reelection, uh in just a couple of months here, and obviously in a state that Trump won by Yeah, exactly, and and is currently I think leading the polls in favor to win reelection.

But nevertheless, obviously UM faces a lot of pressure to to demonstrate himself as bipartisan. Uh. That that being said, and certainly I think the White House has stood by Brett Kavanaugh, and we saw some tweets from the President Press secretary yesterday supportive of him, because for those swing senators, President Trump is not necessarily the most compelling person. We we haven't heard the stories of him getting on the

phone and trying to sort of bend arms back. In fact, there's there have been some reports today that former President George W. Bush, who Kavanaugh used to work for as a staff secretary, has actually been more engaged in working the phones on his behalf. And for somebody like Jeff Flake, I think a call from George W. Bush probably goes a lot further than than one from Donald Trump, who he spent a lot of time criticizing pretty publicly. Okay,

so we got about a half a minute ago. This is going to show up in the mid terms, Yes, more than likely. Yeah, And uh, I think certainly if female voters were not feeling already as if they could make their voices heard at the ballot box uh in November,

that this will be something that is an impetus for them. Uh. You could certainly also argue, on the flip side that for conservatives who have long tried to see U ro versus Way or other Supreme Court opinions, Um sort of turned in another direction, that that this might be a promise kept by Donald Trump and congressiant Republicans, and maybe

that'll motivate them all right. Bloomberg News White House reporter Justin Sink with us in our Bloomberg ninety nine one studios here in Washington, d c M or live from the Bloomberg Interactive Broker studio, and we've been speaking about the confirmation of Supreme Court nomini Brett Kavanaugh, which is headed for a full vote in the Senate early next week.

During testimony yesterday from Kavanaugh and one of the women accusing him of sexual assault, Christine Blasi Ford, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin asked Ford whether she was sure that it was Kavanaugh who assaulted her. In Dr Ford, with what degree of certainty do you believe Brett Kavanaugh assaulted you? One? Neil Kinkoff is a professor at Georgia State University School of Law. He joined us now by phone from more on Brett Kavanaugh's nomination and professor, what did you make

of the hearing yesterday? Wow? I think that swims it up. Um. I've never seen anything like it. Even Anita Hill Clarence Thomas wasn't quite like yesterday. It was the most partisan and vitriolic Supreme Court hearing. I'm sure in our nation's history, you know, the American Bar Association had endorsed Kavanaugh, and now that group plus now we're learning Yale Law School's Dean, plus at least four Republican governors are calling for them to sort of pump the brakes on this so that

there can be an investigation. Is any of that going to hold any weight. That's entirely up to Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, right, which it really has been the whole time time. If you remember back to when UM Professor Blasi Ford first came forward, UM, Susan Collins was really the one holding all of the cards, and what would satisfy her is what Grassley was willing to do

in the way of process. So when she initially UM didn't think we needed to hear from Mark Judge and didn't need to have a full FBI investigation, well, the Committee helped firm on those points. And so it's going to be entirely up to her and Lisa Murkowski as

to what they're satisfied with. If they were satisfied with yesterday's proceedings, then the Senator had the votes to run this through, um, And if Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski demand more in the way of developing evidence and more in the way of inquiry into the allegations, then more will take place. Now let's go in order of the witnesses. What did you think of a doctor Blaisie fords a testimony? And then what did you think of Judge Kavanaughs testimony?

And and the merits of each of each witnesses testimony. Well, I think um, Professor Blasi Ford was obviously credible. Everyone who commented on the hearing said she was credible and compelling and sincere and earnest, coming forward out of motives that had nothing to do with anything other than to tell the truth, to get to the bottom of it, and a sound of civic duty. Um. Given that, I don't see how the Senate can, in any kind of

principal fashion do anything other than for their investigation. As for Judge Kavanaugh, I thought his remarks were incredibly partisan, UM, and sort of belied the idea that he has the kind of temperament to be on the Supreme Court, that he can be trusted as a neutral arbiter when matters like I don't know to like, like, well, what's going on with President Trump and the the Moler investigation, which

are all headed for the Supreme Court. How can he sit on the Supreme Court and be regarded as a fair arbiter of whether whatever it is the President Trump does to stop the witch hunt, um, is constitutional or not. I wonder if it's worth mentioning. The Democratic Coalition filing another complaint against Kavanaugh, this one saying that he violated the Judicial Code of conduct by line to the committee, what does that filing mean and where would it go? Well,

it's not going to go anywhere. Um. You know, really that the game is the Judiciary Committee, and the game is Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins. If they're satisfied, he's going to go through and the complaints of the Democrats in the Senate they won't amount to anything. What about Judge Kavanaugh's comments, He denied the allegations. Uh, he basically acted as his own prosecutor against doctor Blasi Ford um and attacked her testimony kind of point by point. Mhm, right.

But if if you regard her testimony as credible and compelling, and virtually every member of the committee said exactly that. If that's right, then you need to hear from Mark Judge. You need to inquiry into well what she what what she told her her counselors and psychiatrists back in two thousand and twelve and thirteen. Right, there needs to be a full development of the factual record, um, to try to get to the bottom of it. Because sure, he's denied and point by point denied that he did any

of the things he's alleged to have done. Um, that's not at all surprising. That's exactly what everybody expected him to do. But given how credible and compelling Dr Blaussi Ford was, Um, at the very minimum, I think it's incumbent on the Senate to do more inquiry. And very briefly, we only have about twenty seconds left, but I wanted to ask you about that partisan process that you had just referred to. Of course you were referring to Mr Kavanaugh.

But has the process itself for the Supreme Court to get someone on this on the Supreme Court? Has it become two partisan in about twenty seconds? Sure, yes, it's become far too partisan. Um. This particular process was designed to come to the conclusion that well, this is he said, she said, so on he goes. But overall it's far too partisan. Neil kin Coff, Professor at Georgia State University School of Law. Thank you for your analysis. Thanks for

listening to the Bloomberg Law Podcast. You can subscribe and listen to the show on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, and on bloomberg dot com slash podcast. I'm June Basso. This is Bloomberg d co Dependent DA comp