Kavanaugh confirmed: Conservative majority cemented on Supreme Court

[HARDCORE]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...006-story.html

Kavanaugh confirmed: Conservative majority cemented on Supreme Court

The bitterly polarized U.S. Senate narrowly confirmed Brett Kavanaugh on Saturday to join the Supreme Court, delivering an election-season triumph to President Donald Trump that could swing the court rightward for a generation after a battle that rubbed raw the country's cultural, gender and political divides.

The near party-line vote was 50-48, capping a fight that seized the national conversation after claims emerged that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted women three decades ago — which he emphatically denied. Those allegations magnified the clash from a routine Supreme Court struggle over judicial ideology into an angrier, more complex jumble of questions about victims' rights, the presumption of innocence and personal attacks on nominees.

Acrimonious to the end, the battle featured a climactic roll call that was interrupted several times by protesters in the Senate galleries before Capitol Police removed them. Vice President Mike Pence presided over the roll call, his potential tie-breaking vote unnecessary.

The vote gave Trump his second appointee to the court, pleasing conservative voters who might have revolted against GOP leaders had Kavanaugh's nomination flopped. Instead, "It's turned our base on fire," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters.
Democrats hope that the roll call, exactly a month from

The vote gave Trump his second appointee to the court, pleasing conservative voters who might have revolted against GOP leaders had Kavanaugh's nomination flopped. Instead, "It's turned our base on fire," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters.
Democrats hope that the roll call, exactly a month from elections in which House and Senate control are in play, will do the opposite, prompting infuriated women and liberals to oust Republicans.

"Change must come from where change in America always begins: the ballot box," said Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York, looking ahead to November.

Rep. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, confronting a tough re-election race next month in a state that Trump won in 2016 by a landslide, was the sole Democrat to vote for Kavanaugh. Every voting Republican backed the 53-year-old conservative judge.

Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, the only Republican to oppose the nominee, voted "present," offsetting the absence of Kavanaugh supporter Steve Daines of Montana, who was attending his daughter's wedding. That rare procedural maneuver left Kavanaugh with the same two-vote margin he'd have had if Murkowski and Daines had both voted.

Republicans hold only a 51-49 Senate majority and therefore had little support to spare.

It was the closest roll call to confirm a justice since 1881, when Stanley Matthews was approved by 24-23, according to Senate records.

Within minutes, dozens of political and advocacy groups blasted out emailed reactions.

Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILY's List, which contributes to female Democratic candidates, assailed the confirmation of "an alleged sexual assailant and anti-choice radical to a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court. But we will carry that anger into the election. Women will not forget this."

Kay Coles James, president of the conservative Heritage Foundation, called the vote "a victory for liberty in America" and called Kavanaugh "a good man and good jurist."

The outcome, telegraphed Friday when the final undeclared senators revealed their views, was devoid of the shocks that had come almost daily since Christine Blasey Ford said last month that an inebriated Kavanaugh tried to rape her at a 1982 high school get-together.

Since then, the country watched agape as one electric moment after another gushed forth. These included the emergence of two other accusers; an unforgettable Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at which a composed Ford and a seething Kavanaugh told their diametrically opposed stories, and a truncated FBI investigation that the agency said showed no corroborating evidence and Democrats lambasted as a White House-shackled farce.

All the while, crowds of demonstrators — mostly Kavanaugh opponents — ricocheted around the Capitol's grounds and hallways, raising tensions, chanting slogans, interrupting lawmakers' debates, confronting senators and often getting arrested. Capitol Police said 164 were arrested, raising that count in recent days well into the hundreds.

Inside the Senate, resentments fanned by the battle showed no signs of receding.

Schumer called the GOP's push for Kavanaugh "one of the least transparent, least fair, most biased processes in Senate history." McConnell said a vote for Kavanaugh showed that the Senate was "a chamber in which the politics of intimidation and personal destruction do not win the day."

Trump said Kavanaugh had been "able to withstand this horrible, horrible attack by the Democrats."

Democrats said Kavanaugh would push the court too far, including possible sympathetic rulings for Trump should the president encounter legal problems from the special counsel's investigations into Russian connections with his 2016 presidential campaign. And they said Kavanaugh's record and fuming testimony at a now-famous Senate Judiciary Committee hearing showed he lacked the fairness, temperament and even honesty to become a justice.

But the fight was defined by the sexual assault accusations. And it was fought against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement and Trump's unyielding support of his nominee and occasional mocking of Kavanaugh's accusers.
About 100 anti-Kavanaugh protesters climbed the Capitol's East Steps as the vote approached, pumping fists and waving signs. U.S. Capitol Police began arresting some of them. Hundreds of other demonstrators watched from behind barricades. Protesters have roamed Capitol Hill corridors and grounds daily, chanting, "November is coming," ''Vote them out" and "We believe survivors."On Friday, in the moment that made clear Kavanaugh would prevail, Collins delivered a speech saying that Ford's Judiciary Committee telling of the alleged 1982 assault was "sincere, painful and compelling." But she also said the FBI had found no corroborating evidence from witnesses whose names Ford had provided.

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who has repeatedly battled with Trump and will retire in January, wavered but also backed Kavanaugh.

When Trump nominated Kavanaugh in July, Democrats leapt to oppose him, saying that past statements and opinions showed he'd be a threat to the Roe v. Wade case that assured the right to abortion. They said he also seemed too ready to rule for Trump in a possible federal court case against the president.

Yet Kavanaugh's path to confirmation seemed unfettered until Ford and two other women emerged with sexual misconduct allegations from the 1980s.

Kavanaugh replaces the retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was a swing vote on issues such as abortion, campaign finance and same-sex marriage.

[Boats]

HC

I'm just sick over the decision but those in Congress have no backbone I thought Flake would go no and the lady - but party attitudes rule so be it. I think of my gals and if something like that happen to them - I'd be out of mind. This brave women came forward and in public had to be the toughest and bravest things I've ever witnessed. Congress has to live with their vote. The public will decide whether or not they get re-elected by the people. My heart goes out to all women who've been taken advantage of by the sick people regardless of how many years ago. Now he's on the Supreme Court and should have an asterisk on his resume denoting this claim on his personal record.
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Let's face it Trump used his leverage to elect this guy and he's got a swell background in areas of misconduct on his resume.

Boats

[Noah Werka]

If a liberal had been nominated the dimocrats would have not said a word and poo-pooed any allegations like those hurled at Kavanaugh. It would have been an automatic confirmation. It is about time for the SCOTUS to get back to doing what it was intended to. Judge by the Law of the Land...the Constitution, not by what they feel or think it should be. With a red tidal wave in November, the USoA may get back on the right(no pun intended) track that our Founders intended.

Noah W

[Boats]

Noah

There are many things going wrong right now and it will take the citizens of this country to fix it. We can talk till doomsday but the "Voter's" have to make the decisions. I want to vote for the right guy or gal. Regardless of the party lines. A good mix - is good - all one sided can lead to what we have right now in the Senate & House. The leaders must have Integrity and have the People's best interest in mine is critical. We also have to limit terms with no full lifetime pensions after serving. (If interested - they make some damn good money while in office and expense accounts). Get out and get a job like the rest of us - why make us pay for the dead wood once they leave office. We tax payers are subsidizing the entire political system for their lifetimes - with little or no input.

I don't want another illiterate President (sorry Trump but you are not the right guy even though I voted for you). Your infrastructure sure isn't doing any of late. We also don't even own our railroads anymore - most items are made outside the US for larger profits and layoffs having impacted our society like never before. US first must be No. 1.

People need jobs "without them" crime goes up 1000%. We see it all the time. Most of the little local supplier's and shops used to be in our neighborhoods. Now we don't see them anymore. Showing people new cars at 25 to 50K make it impossible for most to buy a new car. Take out a loan you get hit with 20-30% interest rates.

I don't want a glorified leader - I want a leader who knows how to do things not just for the rich but for the disenfranchised. Our kids should have access to free colleges. Military personal deserve a lot more respect than they get. It seems only they who've served recognize this. Waiving a Flag is good but think about the live's given and the injured who allow us to continue to waive this Flag. Not just on holidays but they are on the line 24/7 doing what most people don't want to do. They all cry when one comes home in stretcher or box. But after that they go about their days without ever thinking about those who are still on the line.

The only lesson most will learn is when the war comes here - now we have their attention.
PEACE ON EARTH - GOODWILL TOWARDS MEN! Wow! great words when someone else is covering your back. The Spirit of America isn't what it once was. It starts at the top and works its way back down.

Our political system today is a real mess. Party interest is all they care about not the People. If they cared we'd see change - but as usual we get the scraps again while big business and their donors reap the rewards.

I hate to rag on such things but in reality - this all we have going for all American's of late.

Regards

Boats