Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., tried to inject some civility and fresh air into Tuesday's Supreme Court confirmation hearing for Judge Brett Kavanaugh by lecturing Democrats about civics and how the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution regarding the three branches of government.
Democrats protested for well over an hour at the start of the hearing, which turned it into a circus. When it was Sasse's turn to address Kavanaugh and the rest of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room, he said Democrats are trying to politicize the court.
"Hysteria around Supreme Court confirmation hearings is coming from the fact that we have a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of the Supreme Court in American life now. Our political commentary talks about the Supreme Court like they're people wearing red and blue jerseys. That's a really dangerous thing, and by the way, if they have red and blue jerseys, I would welcome my [Democratic] colleagues to introduce legislation that ends lifetime tenure for the judiciary because if they're just politicians, then the people should have power and they shouldn't have lifetime appointments.
"So until you introduce that legislation, I don't believe you really want the Supreme Court to be a politicized body. We can and we should do better than this."
PBS posted a clip of Sasse's remarks.
Sasse went on to say that the Supreme Court has become a "substitute political background in America. It is not healthy, but it is what happens and it's something that our founders wouldn't be able to make any sense of."
Looking straight at the Democrats across the room, Sasse said they have a simple choice to make when it comes to Kavanaugh.
"The question is whether or not he has the temperament and the character to take his policy views and his political preferences and put them in a box marked irrelevant, and set it aside every morning when he puts on the black robe," Sasse said. "The question is, does he have the character and the temperament to do that? If you don't think he does, vote no. But if you think he does, stop the charades because at the end of the day, I think all of us know that Brett Kavanaugh understands his job isn't to rewrite laws as he wishes they were."
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