McConnell Sets Friday Vote to Thwart Filibuster of Kavanaugh

[laserhaas]

Last edited Thu Oct 4, 2018, 05:46 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: Roll Call

Link to tweet

.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell followed through late Wednesday in setting up a Friday vote to limit debate on Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination.

Under Senate rules, the key vote on McConnell's cloture motion will take place one hour after the Senate convenes Friday. The Republicans needed to get the motion to limit debate before the end of the calendar day Wednesday to allow the Friday vote.

If all goes according to plan, the vote will take place one day after senators get a chance to review supplemental background information from an FBI inquiry into allegations of sexual assault against Kavanaugh.

Read more: https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/mitch-mcconnell-sets-friday-vote-thwart-filibuster-brett-kavanaugh

---

Report by - The HILL - infers McConnell seeks to make the Cloture vote transpire, and that will make any need for debate, come to an end.

IMO it is a pus to put and end to FBI investigation.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/409815-mcconnell-tees-up-kavanaugh-vote

[div class"excerpt"]The move by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will allow the chamber to vote on ending debate on Kavanaugh's nomination Friday under the chamber's rules.
.
...........UPDATE

Link to tweet

.

[brush]

1. McConnell will be described as a sort of reverse Robespierre when history is written of...

this breakdown in our society. He is right in the middle orchestrating all the crap, he is controlling Grassley, waiting patiently behind the scenes for the sham FBI investigation, orchestrated by trump to be over with its pre-determined outcome, which is why he's wasting no time in scheduling the vote for Kavanaugh for Friday.

It is a two-year reign of terror, including not just trump's mocking of a sexual assault survivor, the ramrodding of Kavanaugn onto SCOTUS, but also the shadow of Putin cast on all of this and the specter of the Mueller investigation which of course has the potential to turn on all of the traitor repugs.

Times are dire.

[laserhaas]

2. Dire - indeed

[Progressive Jones]

8. The part of that history book

where the story of the destruction of the GOP is explained will be very interesting and thrilling reading.

[Nitram]

54. It reminds me of the ancient Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times."

[lagomorph777]

55. History will not be kind to McConnell's gang of thugs.

But I suspect "History" will be less of a concern for them than "hundreds of millions of angry citizens with torches and pitchforks."

[groundloop]

3. I can only think of a few reasons they're so desperate to ram Kavanaugh onto the Supreme Court

It's not like there aren't plenty of other extreme right wing judges available who at least have a clean past. Sure, Spanky would have to eat just a little bit of crow if he were to tell Kavanaugh to withdraw, but I'm sure he could spin that to his advantage while throwing Kavanaugh under the bus.

I keep coming back to wondering why THIS particular judge is so damned critical to put on the Supreme Court, and the only answer that makes sense is that he's made some sort of deal with Spanky...... and that's some scary shit!!!!

So this is how liberty dies . . . with thunderous applause.

[gay texan]

4. A number of people's asses are on the line n/t

[laserhaas]

23. It's a shame such sways the issue

[BigmanPigman]

5. He has made it clear that he will let the moron off.

That is why they want him specifically. He feels a president is above the law.
https://www.thenation.com/article/brett-kavanaugh-argued-sitting-president-law/

[laserhaas]

24. Uuugggghhhh

[laserhaas]

9. Because we have a real chance of taking back.

It's too late to nominate anybody else.

It's all in on this pig skin

[trc]

13. This 100%

[turbinetree]

17. I think of this case........................and who submitted a amicus brief

A Supreme Court Case Could Liberate Trump to Pardon His Associates

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/09/trump-pardon-orrin-hatch-supreme-court/571285/


http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/gamble-v-united-states/

[laserhaas]

25. WOW

[Rizen]

42. Trump wants Kavanaugh

to save him from Muller's investigations. Republicans are Trump cultists who will go along with him no matter his crimes.

[bluestarone]

56. THIS is the absolute reason they REALLY NEED this asshole in there!!!

And the ONLY reason!!! This was a fix by RUMP and Kavanaugh!! NO DOUBT in my mind!!!!!

[TrishaJ]

60. Most likely made a deal to

vote against any attempt to hold Trump and the GOP accomplices accountable to the rule of law.

[Progressive Jones]

6. McConnell has no idea what price he will pay... n/t

[elmac]

19. Him and the other fascists don't care if they get voted out

they know they have a very well paid cushy Koch brothers job waiting for them, they will do anything to make the court fascist for decades.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

22. Or a family compound in Taiwan...

...eom.

[pangaia]

52. Taiwan? What's the reference?

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

61. His wife's daddy is a Taiwanese shipping magnet(billionaire)...

... Sec. Elaine Chao ring any bells?

][link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine_Chao|

"Elaine Chao immigrated to the United States when she was eight years old.[5] The eldest of six daughters, Chao was born in Taipei, Taiwan to Ruth Mulan Chu Chao, a historian, and James S.C. Chao, who began his career as a merchant mariner and in 1964 founded a shipping company in New York City. The company, Foremost Maritime Corporation, developed into the Foremost Group; as of 2013, James S.C. Chao continued to serve as its Chairman.[8] James first met Ruth when she and her family relocated to Shanghai during World War II. In 1949, James and Ruth relocated separately to Taiwan at the culmination of the Chinese Civil War. They married in 1950. In 1961, Elaine came to the United States on a 37-day freight ship journey along with her mother and two younger sisters. Her father had arrived in New York three years earlier after receiving a scholarship.[9][10] "

][link:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_S._C._Chao|

Just pointing out that Mitch has his places he can run and hide at. If not on mainland China, too.

[pangaia]

64. Yes, I know of Elaine Chao.. Just didn't know if she was Chinese or Taiwanese,

and also didn't know her family background...

Should have

Interesting that Elaine's parents would 'relocate to Shanghai" during WW2.. I would have thought Shanghai was NOT the place to be then...

Thanks

[laserhaas]

26. Yup

[still_one]

7. The answer is quite simple my friends, in November send the republicans sorry asses back home

[laserhaas]

34. That's the hope

Seems possible

[OhNo-Really]

10. DACCA, Marriage Equality, and all those, you know, humane laws will be rushed to SCOTUS

Student loan debtors will be sent to China to work off the debt.

Banks will be turned loose again

No Class Action Litigation, No big payoffs for malfeasance. Capped settlements.

Churches turned into political action committees

No social safety nets. Fed money will go to grifters who skim and offer a meager community service.

Ending free public schooling

Well, we all know the GO0 dream list.

[47of74]

20. And an end to any attempts to hold the Roman Church to account for all its crimes.

I think that's why the USCCB wants that fuck in so much.

[laserhaas]

27. Eeeessshhh - Rough thing is - some items might be real

Nutz

[Baitball Blogger]

11. Is there any reason why senators can't tweet to each other and

discuss this issue outside of McConnell's closed circus ring?

[laserhaas]

28. I've always wondered, how much they talk to each other

But their not sayin...

[sakabatou]

12. McConnell, you son of a bitch!

[Initech]

14. McConnell you fucking piece of shit traitor!!!!

[laserhaas]

15. Spotted articles that he is selling out for career enrichment

Need to go dig them up to see the facts.

[Power 2 the People]

16. Bill Maher was right. So scared for our future.

[Anon-C]

33. Yep!

[Kaleva]

18. I haven't seen anything that suggests McConnell has the votes to confirm Kavanaugh.

[Hoyt]

21. Haven't either, but unless there is some real crud in that report, Kav will be confirmed.

[laserhaas]

29. I don't think so.

Several GOP - already are saying no.

What DEMS do they have - in the bag?

[Hoyt]

43. Believe me, I hope you are right.

[rtracey]

44. hmmm

Who? name the GOP who have said no.....

[Laura PourMeADrink]

30. But flake voted for cloture?

[laserhaas]

35. Something about that name

Ya know - flakey

[Laura PourMeADrink]

46. Well, in my opinion - Flake and Coons seem like very

kind and nice people. But, severely absent of any kind of savvy.
Not the brightest bulbs in the chandelier IMHO

[laserhaas]

48. Coons (and his equal in DE) are tools of special interests

Coons is a real close friend of Colm Connolly; who was the most corrupt Federal prosecutor that Trump confirmed as a federal judge.

I despise Colm and anyone who aides & antes him.

[BumRushDaShow]

39. A vote for "cloture" has not happened yet

He only voted with his colleagues to move the nomination out of committee.

[laserhaas]

49. Um...its a Bum's rush of the affair

Literally speaking

[BumRushDaShow]

51. Not sure what you mean but the "cloture" vote has not happened yet.

They may be "rushing the process" in terms of limiting the "review" before moving on, but there are still steps that have to happen before they get to actually doing a "final vote".

As a sidenote that I heard within the hour -

Republican Sen. Ben Sasse drops a bombshell on the debate over Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court

Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska gave an impassioned speech Wednesday night on the Senate floor about sexual assault and the #MeToo movement.

Sasse also dropped a bombshell about where he stood on Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court, saying he had pushed for a different candidate before Trump chose Kavanaugh. "I urged the president to nominate a different individual," Sasse said. "I urged the president to nominate a woman."

He recounted the experiences of two friends he said were raped, saying the #MeToo movement had been "complicated" but also a "very good thing." And then Sasse turned back to Trump. "We all know that the president cannot lead us through this time," he said.

https://www.businessinsider.com/republican-ben-sasse-on-brett-kavanaugh-trump-should-nominate-someone-else-2018-10

Sasse is on the Judiciary committee and like the other GOPers, voted to move the nomination to the floor for a cloture vote. But I heard a clip of his speech this morning that he gave last night and it seems to suggest that he may have joined the equivocating group, although it might still give him cover to vote "yes" (like Fischer also from his state) but we shall see.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4753382/ben-sasse-metoo-floor-speech

Of course Avenatti came right out in response -

Link to tweet

TEXT
Michael Avenatti
✔
@MichaelAvenatti

.@BenSasse: How does it feel to lick the boots of a guy (Trump) you claimed to have such problems with? Your stmts tonight were an example of why America despises double talk hack politicians. Anytime you want to discuss the law and the SCOTUS, I'm happy to teach you a few things
10:38 PM - Oct 3, 2018

[laserhaas]

53. Autocorrect got me - again ( LOOK )

Was doing a punny on your psuedo-name

McConnell doing a toss of protesters.

.........

That being said -

Enjoying the long details

[BumRushDaShow]

57. I hate autocorrect too

But then when I turn it off, it's worse.

Trust me, I am as jaded as most people here. But I am actually shocked that we are where we are today, almost a week after the confirmation was already a "done deal" because a couple Senators threw a monkey wrench into the works. If anything, it gave time to get all kinds of other ancillary things out into the media about what is going on, regardless of whether any Senator will actually care to act on it or not.

My biggest concern is if he is confirmed, he is going to be ten times more bitter than Clarence Thomas and probably ten times more vocal too. I think Thomas only wrote 1-page remarks as his contribution to every case and only asked questions to lawyers a couple times over the 27 years he has been on the SCOTUS, so he mostly sat silent on the court taking up a seat and voting either with the RW majority or with his former handler, Scalia.

This guy however, is guaranteed to go on a vindictive vendetta.

[laserhaas]

58. Agree.. Even Law Professors, nationwide, know K is bad news

Link to tweet

.

[BumRushDaShow]

59. IMHO

and many many other "disinterested" parties in the law world, his church's world, and his schools' worlds, have pretty much indicated this - if he had done his last Thursday's testimony in the same "manner" as that of his original earlier testimony, i.e., "calm", "collegiate", "judicially neutral and non-partisan-sounding", then this would have been a slam dunk in his favor.

But instead, he literally went off the rails, and there are many in the "high income class" world who were appalled at what basically became a rude and belligerent "blue collar rant", and that is not the "stock" or "background" that he comes from.

I expect there may be some older GOP women who would like to see a Sandra Day O'Connor replacement up there instead but they seem to still keep ceding their voices to "their men". Apparently there is an oft-cited woman (who is probably as bad policy-wise but not necessarily as nasty as this guy) but it will be interesting to see what goes on behind the scenes about pushing her for an alternative.

[laserhaas]

62. It occurs to me that Kavanaugh may be an alcoholic

That's the reason he kept referencing beer.

He wanted one - Really bad.

I've seen this, before, with family

[BumRushDaShow]

63. Some of that was, IMHO, an "act"

to show that he is one of the "good old boys".

But I wouldn't be surprised if he was an alcoholic. He was also an "only child" so I think this also factored in on some of his behavior (which he also whined about, but that also does often come with its own issues).

[Iliyah]

32. If the report stated that the FBI could not verify the alleged claim

of Dr. Ford, that report would have been leaked asap.

[laserhaas]

36. Leaks

The new norm

[sinkingfeeling]

31. Also ending the Senate as being a deliberating body of Congress.

[djacq]

37. May John McCain's ghost haunt him;

For the rest of his life.

[laserhaas]

50. Yes

Very much so

[laserhaas]

38. Update

Link to tweet

.

[duforsure]

40. What idiot in the Senate would vote for him now?

His dossier will become exposed , and everything trump and the gop knew and were hiding from the Democrats and the American people, and will be reversed . Any Senator voting for him will be destroying their own careers with, and they will be targeted for replacing each election going forward, and replaced with people that'll represent the American people over party, and especially over trump and putin. This guy should not be over any courtroom , ever. Liar and corrupt.

[rtracey]

45. dont count on that

Don't count on the deep red state Senators losing over the vote. Many don't give a shit what happens to women, don't give a shit if hes a drunk or a rapist....to many...that's just being one of the guys......

[BumRushDaShow]

41. "and that will make any need for debate, come to an end."

That "phase" of debate is different from the debate associated with a final vote. This is why the Senate was always called "the deliberative body". It doesn't mean they will "deliberate" every single time for every piece of legislation or nominee (they rarely do), but the options are there.

Normally invoking cloture then takes the proceedings to a next step of preparations for a final vote, which involves up to 30 hours of debate (max 1 hour per Senator) within the Senate. Over the past 7 years, they have been modifying the rules to limit THAT ("final vote" ) portion of debate for certain nominees but the critical nominees are the exception. In most cases, the nominees aren't virulently controversial and so they never actually have "30 hours" of debate. Some Senators will give statements, others will grandstand for an hour. But eventually no one else comes forward and a motion is put forward by the leadership of both parties that announces that no one else has requested time to speak and they will both agree to expire any remaining time (for "debate" statements).

In some cases, someone might then initially put forth a motion for a "unanimous consent" to pass the nomination and we know in this specific case, that won't fly. So at that point, they put in the motion to carry out the final vote with the "yays" and "nays" for a 15 minute timeframe (or whatever time the leadership of both parties agree to which is sometimes abbreviated to 5 minutes if they know everyone is in the chamber already) and they then do the "The Clerk will call the roll..." bit, alphabetically going through the name of every Senator to have them register their vote with the Clerk(s) at the dais. They may do several passes to try to get everyone registered with a vote - and often the clock will be expired for quite a bit of time if they know someone is "on the way" to the chamber to vote, so they will wait.