09.25.18

A Brief History Of Dems’ Calls For Delay

A Timeline of Senate Democrats’ Varying Calls For Delay Of Senate Consideration Of Judge Kavanaugh’s Nomination To The Supreme Court

 

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MITCH McCONNELL (R-KY): “The Democrats had already made up their minds and chosen their tactics: delay, obstruct, and resist. Whatever it took -- whatever the truth really was -- they were going to do whatever they could to stop this qualified, experienced, and mainstream nominee.” (Sen. McConnell, Remarks, 9/24/2018)

 

June 27^th: Wait Until After The Elections

• SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): “Our Republican colleagues in the Senate should follow the rule they set in 2016 not to consider a Supreme Court Justice in an election year.” (Sen. Schumer, Congressional Record, S. 4483, 6/27/2018)

• SEN. TOM UDALL (D-NM): “We should wait until after the upcoming election.” (Sen. Udall, Congressional Record, S. 4497, 6/27/2018)

 

June 28^th: Wait For The Mueller Investigation To Conclude

• SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): “I do not believe that this committee should or can in good conscience consider a nominee put forward by this president until that investigation is concluded…. [W]e should delay this until the Mueller investigation is concluded” (U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Executive Business Meeting, Min. 01:07:16, 6/28/2018)

 

July 10^th: We Must Have All Of Kavanaugh’s Documents ‘Before The Process Moves Forward’

• SCHUMER: “The Senate must now be able to access and have the time to adequately review all documents, emails, and other paperwork associated with Judge Kavanaugh before the process moves forward.” (Sen. Schumer, Congressional Record, S. 4849, 7/10/2018)

• SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-CA), Judiciary Committee Ranking Member: “The committee shouldn’t hold a hearing before we’ve had a chance to review his entire record.” (Sen. Feinstein, Press Release, 8/10/2018)

• SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): “My view is that absolutely, fully and completely providing all these documents is a threshold question of our moving forward with any meeting, or, in my view, any proceeding.” (Conference Call with Senate Democrats, 7/23/2018)

 

August 22^nd: Developments In The Mueller Investigation Mean ‘We Should Not Move Forward With Hearings”

• SCHUMER: “The President … is on the verge of making a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, a court that may someday soon determine the extent of the President's legal jeopardy. In my view, the Senate Judiciary Committee should immediately pause the consideration of the Kavanaugh nomination.” (Sen. Schumer, Congressional Record, S. 5793, 8/22/2018)

• All 10 Judiciary Committee Democrats: “Given the possibility of criminal wrongdoing by the President, doubts that Judge Kavanaugh believes a president can even be investigated, and the unprecedented lack of transparency regarding this nominee’s record, we should not move forward with hearings on September 4th.” (Sen. Feinstein, Press Release, 8/24/2018)

• “[O]n Tuesday, the President’s former campaign manager was convicted on eight criminal charges [and] the President’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts … there is no legitimate reason for the Senate to rush this nomination and fail to perform its constitutional duty….” (Sen. Feinstein, Press Release, 8/24/2018)

 

September 3^rd: There Are Now TOO MANY Documents To Review

• SCHUMER: “The Senate was just given an additional 42,000 pages of Kavanaugh documents the NIGHT BEFORE his confirmation hearing…. Not a single senator will be able to review these records before tomorrow…. [T]he hearings should be delayed until we can fully review Judge Kavanaugh’s records.” (Sen. Schumer, @SenSchumer, Twitter, 9/03/2018)

 

September 4^th: Multiple, Contradictory Excuses

We Still Don’t Have Enough Documents…

• SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): “Yesterday my colleagues and I sent a letter to the White House counsel asking that the president withdraw his claim of privilege over these documents so that they can be made available to this committee and to the American people. We have not yet received a response to that letter, so we should not be proceeding until we have a response and these documents have been available. It is 102,000 documents.” (U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, 9/04/2018)

• BLUMENTHAL: “I renew my motion that we adjourn so that we can access the documents that we need, review them in a deliberate and thoughtful way …” (U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, 9/04/2018)

…But There Are Too Many Documents To Read

• SEN. PAT LEAHY (D-VT): “[W]e received an additional 42,000 pages for your record a few hours ago…. That alone would be reason to postpone during normal times.” (U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, 9/04/2018)

• BLUMENTHAL: “I renew my motion to adjourn so that we have time to conclude our review of these documents …” (U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, 9/04/2018)

We Should Wait Until The National Archives Processes Documents And FOIA Requests

• LEAHY: “[T]he Archives told us it could not even produce this partial records request until the end of October…. Surely I would think that the United States Senate could wait until then, even if it means a Supreme Court with eight justices for a short time.” (U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, 9/04/2018)

• BLUMENTHAL: “I renew my motion to adjourn … so that also my request under the Freedom of Information Act which is now pending to the national archivist, to the Department of Justice, to other relevant agencies can be considered and judged. That Freedom of Information Act will require some time I assume to conclude.” (U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, 9/04/2018)

The Nominee Must Request The Hearing Be Suspended Until Democrats Have Enough Documents

• SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): “For the sake of this nation, for the sanctity of the Constitution that we both honor, step up -- ask this meeting, this gathering -- to suspend until all the documents of your public career are there for the American people to see.” (U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, 9/04/2018)

• SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D-HI): “If you stand behind your full record in public life, fundamental fairness would dictate that you join us in our call for this committee to suspend until we receive all relevant documents and have a chance to review them.” (U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, 9/04/2018)

 

September 16^th: We Must Wait Until New Allegations ‘Are Thoroughly Investigated’

• SCHUMER: “Re: WaPo report on Judge Kavanaugh, Sen Grassley must postpone vote until, at a very minimum, these serious & credible allegations are thoroughly investigated.” (Sen. Schumer, @SenSchumer, Twitter, 9/16/2018)

 

September 17^th: We Must Wait For An FBI Investigation

• SCHUMER: “We need the FBI to step forward and ensure that the Senate and American public have complete information about this troubling alleged incident before a hearing is held.” (Sen. Schumer, @SenSchumer, Twitter, 9/17/2018)

• All 10 Judiciary Committee Democrats: “We write to ask that you delay the vote on Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination … All Senators, regardless of party, should insist the FBI perform its due diligence and fully investigate the allegations as part of its review of Judge Kavanaugh’s background.” (Sen. Feinstein, Press Release, 9/17/2018)

 

September 23^rd: Postpone ‘Any Further Proceedings’ And Order The White House To Order An FBI Investigation

• FEINSTEIN: “I am writing to request an immediate postponement of any further proceedings related to the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh. I also ask that the newest allegations … be referred to the FBI for investigation, and that you join our request for the White House to direct the FBI to investigate the allegations …” (Sen. Feinstein, Press Release, 9/23/2018)

 

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SENATE REPUBLICAN COMMUNICATIONS CENTER

Related Issues: Senate Democrats, Judicial Nominations, Supreme Court

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