Tuesday (September 4th)
The day started with protesters from all over, throughout the day, 70 arrests were made around Capitol Hill as well as at the hearing. Elected officials were also trying to get the hearing postponed, Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) moved to adjourn the hearing but was unable to secure it because the Chairman refused to recognize him. The chairman, Chuck Grassley, is a Republican from Iowa.
According to Senate Democrats, there were tens of thousands of documents withheld by the Trump administration under a title of executive privilege. They also revealed that they didn’t receive about 42,000 documents about Brett Kavanaugh until Monday night, hours before the hearing. In some of those documents, there was information missing which held valuable intel that would prevent Brett Kavanaugh from becoming a Supreme Court judge. During the hearing, many Democrats tried to get more time to review the documents they received only 15 hours before. They argued that this would prevent them from an accurate judgement of Brett Kavanaugh.
As the confirmation released for lunch, a Parkland parent, whose child was killed in the school shooting in February, attempted to shake hands with Brett Kavanaugh but was ignored as he walked out of the courtroom.
Wednesday (September 5th)
Unsurprisingly, there were more protesters the second day of the hearing. They were escorted away from the hearing by Capitol Security again. There were more complaints coming from the Democrats about the 42,000 documents released the night before the first hearing. Many of the documents were marked as “committee confidential” which meant they were not allowed to be used for public record of the hearing. The email in question could be an email used secretly in a 2004/2006 hearing which would put the integrity of Kavanaugh further at risk as he continues his hearing for Supreme Court Justice. Democrats also had a problem with Republicans controlling what was ‘allowed’ to be made public and what wasn’t as that should be the job of the National Archives.
He also managed to avoid questions about the Charlottesville riots of 2017. Senator Kamala Harris (D-California) asked Kavanaugh whether he thought the riots were the fault of both sides to which he replied, “I am not here to assess comments made in the political arena, because the risk is I’ll be drawn into the political arena.”
More questions came out about Roe v. Wade, which decided in 1973 that a woman has the right to an abortion, and although his stance of anti-abortion is well known, he continually dodged the questions during the hearing.
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Thursday (September 6)
The third day included an interjection from Sen. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) who was still objecting to the fact that there were documents which were not able to be released to the public but could be viewed by the Senate. Specifically, there was a memo with the subject “Racial Profiling” drafted by Brett Kavanaugh when he worked in the White House during the presidency of George W, Bush. Senator Booker said that he would release it to the public, despite the consequences. He was backed by many democrats as they believe this memo is an important piece of evidence that needs to be seen by the public.
During the hearing, he also referred to birth control as “abortion-inducing drugs,” which is not correct. Birth control is used to stop conception which means that there isn’t potential for a fetus. It isn’t just used for that though, birth control can also be used to control acne, lessen menstrual cramps, and they have been shown to balance hormones after prolonged use. It’s concerning that Kavanaugh made the statement because he has been known to be “pro-life” and anti-abortion. If he believes that birth control is “abortion-inducing”, there could be potential for an issue obtaining birth control in the future.
Friday (September 7)
The final day of the hearing was filled with many testimonies brought by witnesses who included a Parkland shooting survivor, a woman with cerebral palsy, and a woman who was there to represent an undocumented teenage immigrant who requested an abortion after coming to the US.
The student from Parkland talked about the day of the shooting and referred to the parent of a student killed in the shooting who tried to shake the hand of Kavanaugh on day one of the hearing. This was a smart choice for democrats to bring in because of Kavanaugh’s past (and current) thoughts on guns and the control of them.
A woman with cerebral palsy was also included on the line of witnesses. She said that the potential confirmation of Kavanaugh worried her because his ruling on a previous Doe vs DC case showed potential to take the choice away from people with intellectual disabilities.
The woman who testified on the behalf of the teen who wanted an abortion after coming to the US. The law in Texas bans abortions after 20 weeks and she was already 15 weeks pregnant. Kavanaugh’s ruling was to not allow her to have the abortion and while the court ultimately ruled in her favor, Kavanaugh’s ruling there would carry over to the Supreme Court and cause issues regarding more pro-choice decisions in the future.
What’s Next?
The next step in the process will be questions sent to Kavanaugh (on the record) as well as the vote. Committee voting for Kavanaugh’s hearing will be during the week of September 17th and the Floor vote will take place place the week after that.
If you believe that Kavanaugh is not a good choice, use your voice! Call or email your senators and tell them that you believe Kavanaugh is not a good fit for Supreme Court.