Sen. Chuck Schumer isn't doing much to help keep the resistance fired up to help Democrats fight the unindicted co-conspirator's illegitimate Supreme Court nominee when he makes deals with Mitch McConnell to push through Trump's judicial nominees in record time. Tuesday, before heading out for a very long Labor Day weekend, the Senate pushed through a slew of nominees, both executive and judicial, many of which were confirmed with simple voice votes.
This means, to date, Trump has gotten confirmation for 33 district court judges and 26 appeals court judges, not to mention a Supreme Court justice. These are generally hyper conservative and young, meaning that Trump's stamp is going to be on the federal courts for decades to come. These are the judges who are going to be forwarding every extremist legal challenge up the chain to what's going to be Trump's Supreme Court. And this week, Schumer allowed it to be hurried up.
There's not much Senate Democrats can do to stop these nominees entirely, not while Republicans still hold the Senate. But there's an awful lot they could do, as detailed in this thread by former leader Harry Reid's deputy chief of staff Adam Jentleson, to slow down the works. Just like Republicans did under President Obama. But fighting Trump's nominees is not about tit-for-tat, even though there's a sizable portion of the activist base that needs to see a willingness on the part of Democrats to play as dirty as Republicans. It's about the integrity of the courts. It's about the fact that the person in the Oval Office is very likely there in part because he conspired with a foreign adversary to get there. He simply should not be in a position to reshape the courts.
Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court is the stooge Trump needs to fight the inevitable legal process against him. The only hope we've got of stopping this train wreck is convincing one or more Republicans that he's too extreme and dangerous to have on the court. That he would be is not in question. His views on health care and on executive authority in particular are enough to demonstrate that. But how is a Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) going to be convinced to buck her leadership and oppose him if it's obvious that the Democrats aren't being whipped to stand together against these nominations? Why would she stick her neck out?
So that means it's on us. We're going to have to be the leaders on this, clearly. That means we have to whip the half of Senate Democrats who haven't stated where they stand on Kavanaugh. We have to lead them where Schumer won't.
Every Democratic senator must announce their opposition to Kavanaugh’s confirmation immediately. Use this tool to tell your senators—Democratic and Republican—to oppose this confirmation.