Liberal advocacy groups are criticizing Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer for cutting a deal on judges with Republicans days before confirmation hearings are set to kick off for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Schumer agreed with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to speed up votes on 15 of President Trump 's judicial nominees, which will give vulnerable Senate Democrats more time to campaign at home this week.
The deal is coming under intense criticism from activists on the left, who fear it could portend Democrats going easy on Kavanaugh, Trump's second Supreme Court pick who could shift the ideology of court to the right for decades.
"A week before hearings begin, dozens of Senate Democrats have yet to publicly oppose Kavanaugh. Not only has Schumer lagged in unifying his caucus in opposition, he's cutting deals with Mitch McConnell to fast-track Trump's judicial appointees, helping Trump shape a right-wing judiciary for a generation," said MoveOn.org executive director Anna Galland.
"An entire branch of government is being lost for generations and Senate Democrats are willfully blind to it. In the coming months and years, these same Democrats will issue outraged statements about the rulings issued by the very judges that they could not be bothered to try to slow down. It is pathetic," he added.
A senior Democratic aide said the deal spares Democrats from having to spend days in Washington running down the procedural clock when Republicans are very likely to have the votes they need to confirm all the nominees.
Centrist Democrats running for reelection in states that Trump won by large margins in 2016 said there was little point in dragging out another week in Washington to vote on a batch of judges considered largely noncontroversial.
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/404204-left-knocks-schumer-over-deal-on-judges-ahead-of-supreme-court-battle
Schumer agreed with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to speed up votes on 15 of President Trump 's judicial nominees, which will give vulnerable Senate Democrats more time to campaign at home this week.
The deal is coming under intense criticism from activists on the left, who fear it could portend Democrats going easy on Kavanaugh, Trump's second Supreme Court pick who could shift the ideology of court to the right for decades.
"A week before hearings begin, dozens of Senate Democrats have yet to publicly oppose Kavanaugh. Not only has Schumer lagged in unifying his caucus in opposition, he's cutting deals with Mitch McConnell to fast-track Trump's judicial appointees, helping Trump shape a right-wing judiciary for a generation," said MoveOn.org executive director Anna Galland.
"An entire branch of government is being lost for generations and Senate Democrats are willfully blind to it. In the coming months and years, these same Democrats will issue outraged statements about the rulings issued by the very judges that they could not be bothered to try to slow down. It is pathetic," he added.
A senior Democratic aide said the deal spares Democrats from having to spend days in Washington running down the procedural clock when Republicans are very likely to have the votes they need to confirm all the nominees.
Centrist Democrats running for reelection in states that Trump won by large margins in 2016 said there was little point in dragging out another week in Washington to vote on a batch of judges considered largely noncontroversial.
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/404204-left-knocks-schumer-over-deal-on-judges-ahead-of-supreme-court-battle
No comments:
Post a Comment