Kavanaugh Hearings Start Today

Confirmation hearings for long- time right- wing "Forrest Gump of Republican politics" Brett Kavanaugh are scheduled to begin at 9:30 this morning before the Senate Judiciary Committee. While the proceedings today will involve statements by Senators but no questions, tomorrow is when the fur will begin to fly*:

This is when the actual questioning begins. Each senator, again alternating by party and order of seniority, will get to throw softballs and hardballs at the nominee. Republicans, particularly more senior members on the committee, are likely to take the sting out of a number of questionable parts of Kavanaugh’s record. They’ll probably ask him about his days as staff secretary for George W. Bush, a shadowy period from which virtually no records have been produced publicly; his NSFW memorandum to Kenneth Starr about President Bill Clinton’s sexual dalliances with Monica Lewinsky; and the strange mountain of credit card debt he incurred on baseball tickets. 

Democrats, who are keeping their cards close to their vests, are still gaming out their strategy, but in a sense their work is cut out for them. Unlike Gorsuch, whose record was sizable but more modest, Kavanaugh’s voluminous paper trail for Starr, the Bush White House, and on Washington’s second-most powerful court gives them plenty of ammunition to grill the nominee. Or to question him openly about the gaping hole in his paper record. Expect questions about Kavanaugh’s role in decisions about torture and electronic surveillance; about whether he perjured himself in 2006 before the same committee when faced with similar questions then; about his role in Hargan v. Garza, an explosive D.C. Circuit case at the intersection of abortion and immigration where Kavanaugh was front and center; and inquiries about his knowledge about the indiscretions of Alex Kozinski, the first federal judge felled by the #MeToo movement.

If you recall all of the things that make Republican policies and politics noxious, Kavanaugh has been right there toiling away on them. His weasel position on Roe v Wade, protecting what's left of the Affordable Care Act, his views on civil rights and labor laws, and his expansive view of executive powers and, conversely, the legitimacy of the Special Counsel are some of the biggest issues that will influence how much further the Court will lurch to the right with a Justice Kavanaugh on the Court for the next generation.  With fellow Republican "moderate" weasel Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski expected to fall in line with their rotted- out party and seal Kavanaugh's confirmation, the best Democrats are likely to do is to energize voters by highlighting the extreme positions this Republican would bring to the Court, and why elections matter.

We hate to be depressing, but that's the most likely outcome.

* Looks like it's already flying. Dems wanting adjournment to review document dump, protesters in audience interrupting the hearing.

BONUS:  Nan Aron has a helpful translation guide for what Kavanaugh will say, and what he means.

(Photo:  The nominee who never should have been with a "president" who never should have been.)