The Democratic Leader of the U.S. Senate, Senator Charles Schumer of New York, issued a warning on Sunday, saying that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh will allow President Trump to “overreach” his authority if he is confirmed.
Schumer gave an interview with AM 970 The Answer in New York, and told host John Catsimatidis that out of all potential Supreme Court nominees Kavanaugh was the one “most willing to allow the president to overstep his authority.”
In other words, Schumer is saying that Trump chose Kavanaugh primarily because he would be the one LEAST likely to hold Trump accountable for his crimes and misdeeds.
Schumer said Trump had reviewed a list of 25 potential Supreme Court nominees and chosen Kavanaugh from the list because of his past writings and views on presidential authority.
The Minority Leader said:
“With a president who seems to want to overreach in terms of his power, Kavanaugh, of the list of 25, was the one who is most willing to allow the president to overreach. He said a president should never be investigated or subpoenaed.”
Schumer also said that he hopes the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings will show the public that Kavanaugh’s views about massive presidential power with few limits are not appropriate. He also said he thinks it’s important that everyone realize that the nominee would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade while also restricting healthcare rights under the Affordable Care Act.
“If the American people truly believe that Kavanaugh would overturn Roe and undo healthcare, there will be a bipartisan majority, Democrats and Republicans, to defeat him. Whether the hearings prove that sufficiently to people, we will see.”
Kavanaugh’s hearings this week started with a barrage of Democratic criticism, as they attempted to delay his confirmation.
Schumer and other Senate Democrats are unhappy with the timing of the Kavanaugh hearings because they started shortly after the president was implicated in criminal conduct when his former attorney, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to eight different criminal charges last month.
At that time Schumer spoke from the Senate floor and said:
“It’s a game changer. It should be. … In my view, the Senate Judiciary Committee should immediately pause the consideration of the Kavanaugh nomination. At the very least, the very least, it is unseemly for the president of the United States to be picking a Supreme Court justice who could soon be effectively a juror in a case involving the president himself.”
From the very beginning, Democrats have expressed concerns that Kavanaugh’s views on a president’s authority are way too broad. They say that Kavanaugh, if on the Supreme Court, would attempt to shield Trump from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible crimes, including obstruction of justice charges.
For his nomination to the Supreme Court to be confirmed, Kavanaugh must not have more than one Republican vote against him. As we previously pointed out, committee Democrats are attempting to get Senators Susan Collins from Maine and Lisa Murkowski from Alaska to vote against Kavanaugh because of his position on abortion. Also, new charges have been raised that Kavanaugh may be guilty of multiple counts of perjury, and if that is found to be true this could also threaten his confirmation.
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