Three Progressive Groups Demand Schumer Release The Kavanaugh Docs. Yeah, Good Luck with That…
Three Progressive groups want Chuck Schumer to show some courage in time to at least slow Bret Kavanaugh’s slime trail to the Supreme Court, stating that Senator Grassley has no statutory right to designate pertinent records and e-mails “Committee Confidential” but have been met with silence from Schumer’s spokesman.
“In a Wednesday statement, three groups ― Demand Justice, MoveOn and NARAL Pro-Choice America ― say committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) should not be allowed to hide documents from the public that could reveal crucial details about Kavanaugh’s record.
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“Chairman Grassley must not shield Judge Kavanaugh from evidence that Kavanaugh perjured himself in previous confirmation hearings, or any other documents or evidence relevant to his ability to serve on the highest court for a lifetime appointment,” reads the groups’ joint statement. “[Democrats] know that nothing in the Senate Standing Rules or Judiciary Committee Rules grants Grassley sole authority to designate documents ‘Committee Confidential’ or prohibit their public release.”
In total, Grassley has designated about 141,000 pages of documents from Kavanaugh’s record as “committee confidential,” meaning they can’t be made available to the public or used in Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing.
A spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) did not respond to a request for comment on Democrats taking this more aggressive approach.”
Kudos to Senators Feinstein, Booker and Leahy for releasing records, at their own risk, to better inform the public of the real views and beliefs of Kavanaugh but the Democratic leader in the Senate should take bold action and release them all.
Christ, even Republican conservative and wingnut lauded constitutional guru Mike Lee knows that what Grassley is doing has no precedent:
“Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said he agreed with Booker that there’s no reason why the email he wanted to make public shouldn’t be released.
“I will go with you hand in hand, literally, to work with committee leadership staff to get that going,” Lee told Booker. “I agree with you…. I don’t know why it was marked ‘committee confidential.’”
Yesterday I was roundly criticized by a handful of fellow Kossacks (which is absolutely their right) for publicizing the largely symbolic efforts of Scott Dworkin’s Democratic Coalition to hold Kavanaugh to account for his perjuries.
But in the face of such feckless inaction by our own leadership, what would these critics say is an appropriate response?
