# 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:** 31
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/601 "2018-09-12T02:27:09Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > What’s the evidence that these were gambling debts? Ask Sheldon Whitehouse. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/602 "2018-09-12T02:48:59Z")
Shit, who among us hasn’t treated your best buds to a few thousand dollars worth of baseball tickets? Thirty thousand, sixty thousand, whatever, bros up! ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/603 "2018-09-12T03:01:23Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Ask Sheldon Whitehouse. So far as I can tell, he didn’t claim Kavanaugh has a gambling problem. At best, he asked. But you said that Kavanaugh’s latest gambling debts were paid off right after he was nominated – or that you read that this was so, in any event. This assumes the truth of the claim in a way that Whitehouse’s question does not. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/604 "2018-09-12T06:47:32Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > So far as I can tell, he didn’t claim Kavanaugh has a gambling problem. At best, he asked. > > But you said that Kavanaugh’s latest gambling debts were paid off right after he was nominated – or that you read that this was so, in any event. This assumes the truth of the claim in a way that Whitehouse’s question does not. He raised the question. I don’t know if there’s anything to it. That’s why I’m asking here. The Dope is usually where I hear things first. [FWIW](https://twitter.com/search?q=kavanaugh%20gambling&src=typd)there’s some talk in the twitterverse. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/605 "2018-09-12T11:43:52Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I believe I already mentioned John Jordan Crittenden, nominated by John Quincy Adams on December 17, 1828. Nominated one month before he was out of office. NEXT! > [@](#): > > perhaps we should consider Edward A. Bradford. He was nominated to the Supreme Court in 1852 by President Millard Fillmore. Nominated a few weeks before the election of his successor. NEXT > [@](#): > > In other words: just exactly what happened here with Garland and Gorsuch and Obama and Trump. Except it was held up a couple of months not a year and a half. > [@](#): > > We could do that . . . but then we’d have to ignore Reuben Walworth and Edward King. They were both nominated by John Tyler, The same hated Tyler from before, right? Fine, back in the years leading up to the fracturing of our country and a bloody Civil War to put it back together, this type of hyper-politicized refusal to act on nominees was more common. I suppose everything is fine, then. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/606 "2018-09-12T12:28:51Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Some of us see Bork as the beginning of the dysfunction. Why? What was dysfunctional about it, other than the nomination of an extremist? How did the system not otherwise act just as it was intended to by rejecting him? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/607 "2018-09-12T12:30:33Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > What’s the evidence that these were gambling debts? Got a more plausible explanation? Given that, of course, the nominee doesn’t want to answer it himself. Also given that you’ve previously stipulated that his finances are a fair subject for inquiry. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/608 "2018-09-12T13:17:06Z")
Perhaps he has debts that no honest man can pay. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/609 "2018-09-12T13:54:01Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I read somewhere else (don’t have the cite at my fingertips) that Kavanaugh’s latest gambling debts were paid off right after he was nominated. Just noting here that it wouldn’t matter if the debts were from gambling or something else. What matters is \*who \*paid them, and what do they expect in return? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/610 "2018-09-12T13:55:57Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Been over that already. Spirit vs. letter, strengthening vs. weakening democracy, excuse-making and weaseling vs. respecting the process and the principles, all of that. So there is no written rule requiring the Senate to vote? Is this like discussing the unwritten rules of baseball? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/611 "2018-09-12T14:31:54Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Got a more plausible explanation? How about if you produce some kind of evidence that it was gambling? Until and unless you do, any explanation is just as plausible. So maybe it was space aliens - there’s no evidence of that either. Or maybe it was [baseball season tickets](https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/supreme-court-nominee-brett-kavanaugh-piled-up-credit-card-debt-by-purchasing-nationals-tickets-white-house-says/2018/07/11/8e3ad7d6-8460-11e8-9e80-403a221946a7_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a9c6c2b3ae62), but that has evidence in its favor, so it’s different. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/612 "2018-09-12T14:34:27Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Got a more plausible explanation? Given that, of course, the nominee doesn’t want to answer it himself. From the Huffington Post article: > [@](#): > > The fact that Kavanaugh accrued such high debts through baseball tickets attracted notice, but surprisingly, not a single senator asked him about the issue during his televised judiciary committee hearings last week. Saying he doesn’t want to answer a question that he wasn’t asked is a strange way to put it. The article noted in the Senator has submitted a written question to Kavanaugh, so let’s give him a chance to answer it now that it has been asked. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/613 "2018-09-12T14:35:45Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > So there is no written rule requiring the Senate to vote? Is this like discussing the unwritten rules of baseball? Well, yeah. What rules on the “brush back” pitch? The pitch is legit as a tactic to alter the batter’s stance at the plate, it comes at the cost of a called “ball”, thus raising the chance that the batter will take the base. Is there a rule that the pitcher cannot deliberately hit the batter? Why would we need one? We need to legalize a sense of fair play, because we are incapable of realizing the decent limits on behavior without a rule? Before the Garland nomination actually happened, if you had asked Americans across the country if any nominee to a major position deserved a hearing, I have every confidence the answer would be “Yes”. Accompanied with that facial expression that asks if maybe you are kidding. They might have answered such even if they were reminded of the crucial and all-important case of Reuben Walworth, who many have forgotten. (I don’t mean to exaggerate, maybe not “many”, maybe just “several”. Not interested in a semantic parsing struggle this early of a morning.) McConnell stuck his thumb in the eye of everybody who voted for Obama, who took not only the piddly-ass popular vote but the all-important Electoral College. Did he break a “rule”? Ask any bunch of kids playing ball, does the captain of the other team get to tell you that your team doesn’t get to bat? Does that _have_ to be written down? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/614 "2018-09-12T14:43:18Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > How about if you produce some kind of evidence that it was gambling? Already stipulated that it doesn’t matter what the cause was. Scroll up. Now, does it bother you what he owes to whom or not? If not, why not? BTW, season tickets don’t cost $60K. That looks like money laundering. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/615 "2018-09-12T14:50:08Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Saying he doesn’t want to answer a question that he wasn’t asked is a strange way to put it. > > The article noted in the Senator has submitted a written question to Kavanaugh, so let’s give him a chance to answer it now that it has been asked. If you’re going to answer your own objections, there isn’t much reason to state them. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/616 "2018-09-12T14:51:45Z")
Is Kavanaugh rich? Then it might be little more than a case of sucking up and currying favor. Its a point of pride to the oinking class not to carry money and to toss each other minor gifts in the lower tens of thousands of dollars. Throw it on the plastic, who cares? MasterCare doesn’t call them to demand payment, they call to wish “Happy Birthday”. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/617 "2018-09-12T15:29:41Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Is Kavanaugh rich? If not, then, being human, he’d certainly \*like \*to be. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/618 "2018-09-12T15:35:35Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Is Kavanaugh rich? Then it might be little more than a case of sucking up and currying favor. Its a point of pride to the oinking class not to carry money and to toss each other minor gifts in the lower tens of thousands of dollars. Throw it on the plastic, who cares? MasterCare doesn’t call them to demand payment, they call to wish “Happy Birthday”. He’s probably rich by some standards, but not crazy rich. Like, you wouldn’t see him in _Crazy Rich Supreme Court Justices._ ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/619 "2018-09-12T15:55:06Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Some of us see Bork as the beginning of the dysfunction. How so? He was a perfectly formed and eliminated bowel movement in the system. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/620 "2018-09-12T15:57:33Z")
I’m only about half kidding here. Like I said, he might just be sucking up and currying favor to advance his career. Which, by present evidence, seems to be working quite well. Which would be to say that it is nothing more than an effort to advance the agenda of his masters, which is not _legally_ corrupt. _Republican_ agenda, but still!..more akin to melanoma than Black Plague. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733.md?page=30) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733.md?page=32)