# 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:** 47
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2018, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/921 "2018-09-16T19:05:34Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > I think if she goes to Congress and tells the story in person he probably withdraws his name. But then again these days the old rules don’t mean much Didn’t mean much for Anita Hill either, and they didn’t even bother talking to Angela Wright. ---
**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 16, 2018, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/922 "2018-09-16T19:18:07Z")
_She was having marital problems (hence the couple’s therapy) and invented a story about being assaulted in high school in order to explain her lack of interest in being intimate with her husband._ That was me imitating Trump or Giuliani or someone else in the administration, btw, not my own opinion. Now that the woman has come forward, if she’s willing to testify in front of the committee, I agree that a delay in the vote is warranted to allow her to testify. If she’s not willing to testify in front of the committee, then no delay in the vote. But if this is the only accusation of sexual assault against him I don’t think it’s reason enough to not seat him. If for some reason Kavanaugh withdraws his name, I think that the nominee to replace him will be a woman. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2018, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/923 "2018-09-16T19:18:21Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Didn’t mean much for Anita Hill either, and they didn’t even bother talking to Angela Wright. Her claim is much weaker than Hills, even ignoring the changed climate. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2018, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/924 "2018-09-16T19:25:07Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > If for some reason Kavanaugh withdraws his name, I think that the nominee to replace him will be a woman. Yeah, Ivanka. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2018, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/925 "2018-09-16T19:31:08Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > But if this is the only accusation of sexual assault against him I don’t think it’s reason enough to not seat him. America, 2018. ---
**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 16, 2018, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/926 "2018-09-16T19:37:34Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Yeah, Ivanka. Heh. But if you remember “the list”, there were women on all versions of it. Trump might want to grab the nominee’s pussy first, so there could be some problems. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2018, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/927 "2018-09-16T19:41:11Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > … The voted to schedule a vote before they would be able to find out. That means that they want to vote with incomplete knowledge, which implies that they are concerned about what the knowledge would be, and that, if that knowledge were known, then they would not be able to justify their support. … It doesn’t “imply” that at all. It implies they want to get Justice Kavanaugh confirmed before the SCOTUS term starts in OCtober. > [@k9bfriender](#): > > … Please tell me what the rush is to confirm this person. Your party felt that it was perfectly acceptable to have a vacancy through an entire court season in order to be able to put a right wing ideologue onto the court, you can’t stomach missing a seat for a few weeks to make sure that we are not giving this position to a sexual predator? > > Even if the Republicans lose the senate this fall, they have till January to confirm trump’s pick, that’s about 4 months. I can see rushing before the new congress is sworn in in order to prevent the people of the country from getting a say in the process, but they don’t need to rush this much. This much rushing tells me that there is more that is ready to come out, that they need to get out ahead of, and get him confirmed quickly. Either that, or they know that they will be needing him on the court to defend legislation or executive orders that they will be passing that would not pass muster in a less ideological court, and they want to get that stuff started before the consequences of the election set in as well. What “rushing” are you talking about? Previously I posted this: > [@Kennedy Retiring from SCOTUS](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kennedy-retiring-from-scotus/816858/19): > > Rush? There’s no need to rush. According to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nominations_to_the_Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States): > > Kennedy was confirmed 65 days after his nomination. Thomas was confirmed 99 days after his. For Ginsburg it was a mere 50 days. Breyer was 73. Roberts (a bit odd because it shifted from Associate to Chief Justice partway through) was 23 or 39 days. Hell, let’s add them together and call it 62 days. Alito was 82. Sotomayor was 66, Kagan was 87 and Gorsuch was 65. > > The midterms are in 132 days. President Trump could spend an entire month contemplating who from his list he’d like to select and the Senate could give that person a longer nominating process than any of the currently-serving justices, and it could still all be wrapped up before the midterms. Kavanaugh was nominated on July 9th. That was 69 days ago, and it’s still probably another 10 or so until his final confirmation vote. That’s not “rushed”. Its right in line with the nominations of previous SCOTUS justices. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2018, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/928 "2018-09-16T19:43:12Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > The GOP doesn’t have the votes yet either. (The only change in the tally of committed votes in the past two weeks is due to Jon Kyl being sworn in.) Not saying I’ll be the least bit surprised if Kavanaugh gets confirmed, but the fat lady ain’t sung yet. I know it’s not a done deal yet. We’ll know in a little more than a week if the Republicans have the votes or not. I think it’s likely that they do. ---
**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 16, 2018, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/929 "2018-09-16T20:14:40Z")
The accuser has come forward, and (according to the article) took a polygraph test and passed it: > **[Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, comes forward in the...](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/9/16/17866988/brett-kavanaugh-christine-blasey-ford-washington-post)** > > "Now I feel like my civic responsibility is outweighing my anguish and terror about retaliation." I don’t expect this to change anything as far as the actions of the Republicans in the Senate, since they’ve made it clear they value politics far, far more than protecting women from sexual assault. And what this thread has shown, sadly, is that a few Dopers feel the same way. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2018, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/930 "2018-09-16T20:15:13Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > It doesn’t “imply” that at all. It implies they want to get Justice Kavanaugh confirmed before the SCOTUS term starts in OCtober. Can you tell me that why this is important? It was not important to have a full court when the republicans were wanting to block Obama’s nominee. How is that suddenly changed? > [@](#): > > What “rushing” are you talking about? Previously I posted this: The very rushing that we were just now talking about, here in this thread, just a few posts ago. Please tell me you haven’t already forgotten. > [@](#): > > Kavanaugh was nominated on July 9th. That was 69 days ago, and it’s still probably another 10 or so until his final confirmation vote. That’s not “rushed”. Its right in line with the nominations of previous SCOTUS justices. And this will be enough time to fully investigate these allegations against his character? If not, then yes, that is the definition of rushed. You are taking a vote before you know whether there is merit behind these, whether there are more, or anything. You are choosing to vote before you know these things. Comparing it to time tables of other justices is an utterly irrelevant and pointless attempt at distraction. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2018, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/931 "2018-09-16T20:20:56Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > The word “press,” can indeed mean multiple things. But I don’t agree that the Founders’ use and understanding of the term fails to encompass this present media. > > For example, the men who ratified the First Amendment would have agreed it protected hand-written documents, even though no “press,” was used to generate them. They would have agreed that the meaning of press was dissemination of words and drawings, not the literal use of a printing press. This is not interpreting outside the text — this is reading the text and knowing what it meant. Reading the text ans _assuming_ what it meant, rather. An assumption based on the context of the times, certainly, but an assumption nonetheless. When we go to “what did they mean \*at the time \*by ‘the press’” we are already straying from the plain text. No? (ETA: missed all of the latest page of posts; sorry to be redundant.) . ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2018, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/932 "2018-09-16T20:27:52Z")
it’s already been stated on this thread that there is nothing to worry about - if he’s a bad guy he can be impeached later. ---
**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 16, 2018, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/933 "2018-09-16T20:28:10Z")
So now the accuser has come forward, and (apparently) passed a polygraph test. The Senate must take the time to fully investigate these allegations. I doubt they will, but if they do not it will only further cement the Republican party being reasonably characterized as the party of tolerance for sexual assault. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2018, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/934 "2018-09-16T20:31:23Z")
It’s Trump’s party now. I am guessing even this board’s NeverTrump crowd will claim this is all a hoax. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2018, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/935 "2018-09-16T20:36:45Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > So now the accuser has come forward, and (apparently) passed a polygraph test. … How much do you know about polygraph tests? ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2018, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/936 "2018-09-16T20:38:31Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > … the actions of the Republicans in the Senate, since they’ve made it clear they value politics far, far more than protecting women from sexual assault. … Feinstein’s actions showed that too, and yet you seem to only want to single out Republicans. Partisan much? ---
**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 16, 2018, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/937 "2018-09-16T20:38:55Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > How much do you know about polygraph tests? Enough to confidently assert “the Senate should investigate such a credible accusation seriously before voting on this nominee”. Of course, YMMV if you don’t place a high value on protecting women from sexual assault. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2018, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/938 "2018-09-16T20:39:17Z")
Do you know why the security services still use them extensively even though they do not reliably detect lies? ---
**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 16, 2018, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/939 "2018-09-16T20:39:55Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Feinstein’s actions showed that too, and yet you seem to only want to single out Republicans. Partisan much? So all you got is “what about…”. Nothing about how, maybe, the Senate should fully investigate credible accusations of sexual assault before voting on SCOTUS nominees. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2018, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733/940 "2018-09-16T20:40:27Z")
everybody with an IQ over 50 knows a polygraph can’t be used in court. But yet the CIA , FBI etc still use them ,maybe not as much as in the past. So those 2 facts don’t make sense when taken together. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733.md?page=46) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-democrats-actually-stop-the-nomination-of-brett-kavanaugh/820733.md?page=48)