# Can Democrats actually stop the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 4, 2018, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733 "2018-09-04T12:49:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 237
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4721 "2018-09-28T10:45:57Z")
> [@psychobunny](#): > > Well Corker says he is already a yes vote because Ford **presented no evidence to back up her claims**. I hate to be as negative as some here but it looks like this is the way things are going. They hold this sham of a hearing which enables them to say that they “investigated” the allegations, but it is his word against hers, presumption of innocence, etc and he gets confirmed… **bolding** mine Of course Dr Ford did provide testimony and that is a form of evidence. But I think the point Corker was making was a lack of contemporaneous corroborating evidence. Dr Ford has reported that she sought medical treatment related to the attack. But her attorneys have [refused to release](https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/christine-fords-lawyers-refuse-to-release-medical-records/) those medical records as evidence. Any medical records that are contemporaneous would be corroboration as to time and any documented details of an attack. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4722 "2018-09-28T10:52:23Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > If _you_ were a woman in that situation, would you be so cocksure about coming forward with your story? Actually, I’ve been a boy (I was much younger) bullied by the sons of the rich & powerful and I spoke up and my parents left me there. But they believed me. They left me there because they thought it would toughen me up; it didn’t. In the Kavanaugh case we have absolutely no evidence of the claims. She could have gone to the police at the time. Not only did she not do so but she went back to the same parties. As did other women. She was an adult: she could have left and gone to study elsewhere; she did not. And so on. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4723 "2018-09-28T10:54:27Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > I’ve read it, and in the word of Dopers everywhere, “Cite?” There is absolutely no evidence for the allegations. For starters, you haven’t addressed any of the points I’ve raised. We have the word of several people who have attested that Brett Kavanaugh was a drunkard. We have his own testimony that he “likes beer” and drank to an extent that he “fell asleep”, and that he doesn’t recall incidents in which he became belligerent over a dice game on a booze cruise. We have his speeches in which he testifies to “falling off the bus” after a night of drinking. We have the testimony of his acquaintances that he was a “sloppy drunk” and that he drank to the point of blacking out. We have the evidence in the form of his yearbook and calendars that he was a member of the “ralph club”, the president of the “Keg Club”, and a “Renate alumnus”. We have the testimony of Dr. Ford, delivered under penalty of perjury, that he assaulted and attempted to rape her. We have his own testimony, in which he was continuously belligerent, emotional, and evasive when asked yes-or-no questions about his proclivities, extending to the point that he was observed to nod while saying “no” to a question about whether the charges against him were true. If you don’t think that this body of evidence disqualifies him from holding _any_ office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States, then I don’t believe you’re qualified to be a citizen of this country. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4724 "2018-09-28T10:56:27Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Manchin is pretty safe, and that will give cover to Heitkamp and McCaskill to vote for the wingnut if needed to save their seats in the mid-term… [McCaskill committed to voting ‘No’ on Kavanaugh last week.](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/09/19/claire-mccaskill-says-shes-voting-no-brett-kavanaugh-president-trumps-supreme-court-nominee/1363605002/) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4725 "2018-09-28T10:58:44Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > She could have gone to the police at the time. Tell me, in all honesty, what you believe would have happened if, in the Year of Our Lord 1982, a 15-year-old female had gone to the police in North Bethesda, Maryland, and alleged that a Georgetown Prep student had attempted to rape her. I’ll spare my laughter until after you reply. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4726 "2018-09-28T11:10:00Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Care to put some numbers behind these predictions? > > In 2002, Dems got almost 34 million votes in the HoR. In 2006, it was over 42 million. In 2010, Dems were back down (just) below 39 million. In 2014 they got less than 36 million. What do you think it’s going to be in 2018? 42 million again? more? less? care to put any money into a wager? I will wager the Dems are going to take back the House if that is what you are driving at. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4727 "2018-09-28T11:13:36Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > [https://www-m.cnn.com/2018/09/27/politics/kavanaugh-american-bar-association/index.html](https://www-m.cnn.com/2018/09/27/politics/kavanaugh-american-bar-association/index.html) > > The ABA now advocates a delay until these allegations are fully investigated. > > I doubt it makes a difference. In another era, the ABA’s position would have been a big deal. Now, McConnell’s going to try to plow through, regardless of far bigger problems with this nomination. What the ABA thinks is a triviality to him. > [@](#): > > And confirming Kavanaugh would probably help the Democrats for the midterms. But I’m still hopeful that there might be a pair of Republican senators with a shred of human decency. At this point, I’d be satisfied if a few of them simply told McConnell, “hell no, I’m not giving up my weekend for this,” and went back to their home states until Monday. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4728 "2018-09-28T11:18:33Z")
It seems clear that to the GOP base, both the MAGAts and the billionaires, nailing down that fifth Supreme Court seat is more important than holding the Senate. They have different reasons for that, but it’s true for both. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4729 "2018-09-28T11:26:43Z")
By the way, Kavanaugh repeatedly referred to Mark Judge’s “affidavit under threat of perjury”. But there was no such affidavit – there was only a statement signed by Mark Judge’s lawyer. Judge would face no criminal threat if he lied in that statement. Kavanaugh lied again. Or he’s incompetent with regards to the law. Either ought to be disqualifying, but probably won’t be. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4730 "2018-09-28T11:28:21Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Tell me, in all honesty, what you believe would have happened if, in the Year of Our Lord 1982, a 15-year-old female had gone to the police in North Bethesda, Maryland, and alleged that a Georgetown Prep student had attempted to rape her. I very much doubt your insinuation. But at the very least, it would at least have been on the record. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4731 "2018-09-28T11:33:18Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > It seems clear that to the GOP base, both the MAGAts and the billionaires, nailing down that fifth Supreme Court seat is more important than holding the Senate. They have different reasons for that, but it’s true for both. They certainly are all in. Much more so than one would even think would be the case ordinarily. Paradoxically they have become more agressoive since the second and third accusations came out. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4732 "2018-09-28T11:33:39Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Have you? It’s - of course - possible that I’ve missed something, but there’s a whole lot of what can at best be called wishful thinking. …for the last dozen pages or so: and almost everything that was discussed today, was about Christine Blasey Ford. So when you ask the question “why did she keep attending the parties?” one has to wonder: what the fuck are you actually talking about? So my question to you is: who is the “she” you are referring too? Because I have my suspicions you’ve conflated several different stories into a single one, but I’ll let you speak for yourself. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4733 "2018-09-28T11:36:14Z")
Yanno, at least 11% of Americans are into conspiracy theories, right? Well, I say about time they got fair representation on the Supreme Court! ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4734 "2018-09-28T11:52:49Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > Do you know what’s meant by the term ‘conspiracy theory’? > > All I can say, as an outsider looking on, is that the sniffing looked pretty weird to me. I think that some of his emotions where genuine. Especially when talking about his dad, and that his life may be pretty much ruined. I thought that the sniffing was perhaps for dramatic effect. Never once saw him wipe his eyes or nose. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4735 "2018-09-28T11:57:07Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > You are correct that Congress can’t throw people off the Court, other than by impeachment. However, they can increase the size of the Court as they please, allowing whomever is President at the time to appoint multiple Justices. They can also reduce the size of the Court, by providing that the next x number of Justices to die or retire shall not be replaced, thus neutering whomever is President at the time. They have done both these things multiple times in the past, though not since 1880-something iirc. Wikipedia: > [@](#): > > Size of the Court > Article III of the United States Constitution does not specify the number of justices. The Judiciary Act of 1789 called for the appointment of six “judges.” Although an 1801 act would have reduced the size of the court to five members upon its next vacancy, an 1802 act promptly negated the 1801 act, legally restoring the court’s size to six members before any such vacancy occurred. As the nation’s boundaries grew, Congress added justices to correspond with the growing number of judicial circuits: seven in 1807, nine in 1837, and ten in 1863.[74] > > In 1866, at the behest of Chief Justice Chase, Congress passed an act providing that the next three justices to retire would not be replaced, which would thin the bench to seven justices by attrition. Consequently, one seat was removed in 1866 and a second in 1867. In 1869, however, the Circuit Judges Act returned the number of justices to nine,[75] where it has since remained. > > President Franklin D. Roosevelt attempted to expand the Court in 1937. Congress has always decided the size of the court and has increased and decreased the number of justices since the beginning. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4736 "2018-09-28T12:25:30Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Tell me, in all honesty, what you believe would have happened if, in the Year of Our Lord 1982, a 15-year-old female had gone to the police in North Bethesda, Maryland, and alleged that a Georgetown Prep student had attempted to rape her. > > I’ll spare my laughter until after you reply. She could have told her parents, told a teenage girlfriend, or written of her attack in a diary or journal she would subsequently keep for 36 years. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4737 "2018-09-28T12:33:30Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > I joke, but that’s pretty much how Nevada got to be a State; the Republicans wanted to guarantee themselves another few electoral votes in 1864 and carved off the desolate ass end of California. The first two words are correct. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4738 "2018-09-28T12:37:29Z")
If the GOP had asked the FBI to investigate the day after Dr. Ford acknowledged that she wrote the letter to Sen. Feinstein, that investigation would likely be over and done with by now, eleven days later. It wouldn’t have held things up at all. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4739 "2018-09-28T12:42:28Z")
BTW the repetition of the reference to “all boys Catholic high schools” (with added “Jesuit” when referring to his own) and “all girls Catholic high schools”, including a listing thereof, began to grate on me after a while, speaking as a graduate of a (non-Jesuit) Catholic all-boys (at the time) high school myself. I suppose in his own case it’s virtue-signaling as to how his peer group were particularly Fine and Upstanding Members of Society… and deeply conditioned into a particular POV about a particular controversy (_cough_Roe_cough_). But given the recent vibe in regards to the church and the minors in its care I’m not sure you should be calling so much attention to it. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2018, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/4740 "2018-09-28T12:43:42Z")
Someone on twitter pointed out that this decision is being made by a political body (the Senate) in which a majority represents 18% of the population. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733.md?page=236) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733.md?page=238)