Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., may delay the vote on President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee until just before the upcoming midterm elections, Politico reports.
Democrats have continued to demand more than one million pages of records from Brett Kavanaugh, the D.C. Circuit Court judge selected to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy.
According to Politico, McConnell hopes that moving the vote will both prevent red-state Democrats from campaigning while also forcing anti-Kavanaugh progressives to suffer a defeat just before the elections. The senator apparently hopes that Democrats will be “deflated” if they think they can prevent Kavanaugh’s confirmation, but can’t.
“To me, it’s in their best interest to have that vote done for a lot of their red-state senators who are facing their voters,” said GOP Conference Chairman John Thune of South Dakota.
He added that there are two reasons Democrats would fear a delay: “One is, you’re stuck here, you can’t get home. And two, the vote is going to be of significant consequence in a lot of those races. I don’t know how it’s to their benefit to drag it out.”
But McConnell and the rest of the GOP would prefer to confirm Kavanaugh before the court’s annual term begins on the first Monday of October.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said that he and Democrats on the committee are currently embroiled in a battle over how wide-ranging the request from documents can be, including the five years he spent working for former President George W. Bush’s administration, during which he was involved in several controversial decisions.
“I would love to have him on the court the first day of the new term,” Grassley said. “But I can’t even guarantee that at this point, because of the fact that we have a constitutional responsibility to do a thorough and fair hearing.”
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