The confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh wrap up today as character witnesses will testify for and against Kavanaugh’s nomination.
Stay tuned to Breitbart News for live updates. All times eastern.
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11:26 AM: Klobuchar ready to lob softballs to Richmond on voting rights. Richmond talking about the Section 5 preclearance provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the “race the legislature” after Shelby was decided.
11:18 AM: Feinstein says a lot about the Garza case troubles her and again talks about the “death toll” from the 50s (women going to illegal abortionists and dying) and does not want to see the country go back to those days. She is also speaking about “weapons” being an issue in the Kavanaugh vote.
11:11 AM: Olson says that lawyers who have appeared before Kavanaugh have had nothing but respect for him, his fairness. He says he does not know a lawyer or judge who is more uniformly respected than Kavanaugh.
11:03 AM: Next up is Akhil Reed Amar, Yale Constitutional Law professor, for Kavanaugh. He says he is the “best choice from the wrong choice” and praises Kavanaugh’s knowledge of the Constitution. Amar is a Hillary Clinton supporter. He says Kavanaugh is the best nominee on the horizon.
10:58 AM: NYU Law Professor Melissa Murray, a former Sotomayor clerk, says Kavanaugh would threaten “reproductive rights.” Gives left-wing lecture like what one would hear at a place like Berkeley. She says Kavanaugh would “utterly eviscerate” the right to an abortion. Says vote for Kavanaugh is a “vote against Roe.”
10:51 AM: Colleen E. Roh Sinzdak, Kavanaugh’s former student at Harvard, is a registered Democrat who clerked for Merrick Garland. She speaks of Kavanaugh’s commitment to helping those starting out in the legal profession and commitment to advancing racial/gender diversity.
10:45 AM: Alicia Baker says she fears that if Kavanaugh is elected, women will not be able to get birth control because of the religious beliefs of their employers. She says she is a “pro-life Christian.”
10:36 AM: Former Solicitor General Ted Olson speaking in support of Kavanaugh. He says he has known Kavanaugh for two decades and has the qualities that would make him a solid Supreme Court Justice as protesters interrupt.
10:28 AM: Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA), the Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, now testifying. Richmond says the Supreme Court has acted when Congress neither had the courage nor the will to act re: civil rights issues.
He says Trump is trying to “pack the court” with “proven intolerant bigots” who embrace ideologies at the “fringes of mainstream legal thought.”
He says he cannot overstate what is at stake for African-Americans. Talks about affirmative action, voting rights, education, criminal law. He says Kavanaugh represents a “grave danger” to many legal frameworks that have helped African-Americans.
10:24 AM: Elizabeth Weintraub, an advocate for people with disabilities, accuses Kavanaugh of having “low expectations” for people like her with disabilities (cerebral palsy). She says she is worried that if Kavanaugh is confirmed, her right to make decisions for herself will be taken away.
10: 18 AM: Next up is Louisa Garry, Kavanaugh’s college friend from Yale. She says her “enduring” friendship with Kavanaugh may surprise people because they some different views. She talks about her experience training Kavanaugh for the Boston Marathon and running it with him together numerous times.
10:13 AM: Rochelle Garza, the immigration attorney who represented the illegal immigrant “Jane Doe” teenager (Garza v. Hargan) who wanted an abortion while in government custody, is now speaking against Kavanaugh. She speaks about the “unbearable” way in which Jane was treated and the “pain” she suffered is “impossible to describe.” She claims she can see “nothing more American” than what she saw in Jane.
10:09 AM: First up is former Kavanaugh law clark (2013-2014) Luke McCloud. He says Kavanaugh is a fair-minded and independent judge. He says Kavanaugh did not want clerks who reflexively agree with him. He points out that Kavanaugh wanted a diverse groups of law clerks–ideological, background, racial.
He points out that the percentage of Kavanaugh’s clerks that have been minorities is unheard–McCloud says he is a minority who has benefited and says he would not have applied for his Supreme Court clerkship had Kavanaugh not encouraged him to do so.
10:05 AM: Panel II will now testify. Grassley says it will consist of five witnesses for the majority and five for the minority.
10:01 AM: Tarpley says he did not see a “pattern” in Kavanaugh’s decision except for “allegiance to the law” and “adherence to precedence” in response to Whitehouse’s questions.
9:55 AM: Senators who love to hear themselves talk more than others stand out, and Blumenthal promptly tries to get the duo to slam Trump for his attacks on the judiciary. He says he hopes they can agree with him that Trump’s attacks on the judiciary do a “disservice.”
9:48 AM: Graham will start off with questions. Graham says Kavanaugh sounds like a “great judge” but a “lousy politician.” Tarpley says Kavanaugh got an A++ integrity rating and is “at the top of the stream” when asked if Kavanaugh is a “mainstream” judge.
9:43 AM: Tarpley, the lead evaluator, says the committee did not consider Kavanaugh’s ideology or political views. Rather, the ABA’s evaluation was based on a “comprehensive, nonpartisan, non-ideological” review. He says Kavanaugh’s “integrity” was unquestioned and praises Kavanaugh’s morality and ethics. He glowingly speaks about Kavanaugh’s “professional competence,” saying it exceeds what is required of a Supreme Court Justice. He speaks about Kavanaugh’s “good sense of humor” and how a diverse group of ABA lawyers rated him as unanimously well qualified.
9:40 AM: Moxley, the ABA chair, says his non-ideological group unanimously determined that Kavanaugh got the highest ranking possible–“unanimously well qualified.” He says Kavanaugh got the highest rating possible after contacting 500 people and conducting nearly 125 interviews.
9:35 AM: The American Bar Association’s Paul T. Moxley (chair) and John R. Tarpley (principal evaluator) will be the first two witnesses. Feinstein says she doesn’t have any questions but thanks them for the work the ABA does and says she pays close attention to their recommendations. The ABA determined that Kavanaugh is “well qualified” for the Supreme Court.
9:31 AM: Grassley gavels in the final day of hearings. He points out there have been nearly 34 hours of testimony and Kavanaugh has proven that he is one of the most qualified nominees.
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