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Live blog of confirmation hearing | September 27, 2018

We live-blogged as the Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony from Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.

3rd & 7 37yd

Klobuchar: But we'd like the FBI to be able to ask questions of him.

by Edith Roberts 9/27/2018 9:03:40 PM
Klobuchar: Sober in AA at age 90. You have said that you never drank so much as to not remember what happened. We have heard otherwise.

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:05:07 PM
Klobuchar: Drinking is one thing. But the concern is about truthfulness. Did you ever drink so much that you can't remember what happened or part of what happened the night before? [No, and I wonder whether you have.]

by Edith Roberts 9/27/2018 9:06:45 PM
Klobuchar: Drinking is one thing, but the concern is about truthfulness. In written testimony, you said sometimes you drank too much. [No, I remember what happened.] Never a case where you drank so much that you didn't remember? [Have you?]

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:06:47 PM
Grassley now quoting Biden as dismissing importance of FBI investigations. FBI does not make conclusions or recommendations.

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:08:31 PM
Whitehouse: I have, others have, asked for FBI investigation. It's not so much the conclusion an FBI investigation draws, but the breadth of evidence that is brought out, and the difference one might say to an FBI agent than to a lawyer.

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:09:08 PM
Whitehouse: The first background investigation in history not re-opened when new information like you mentioned brought up.

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:09:34 PM
Fifteen minute break now.

by Edith Roberts 9/27/2018 9:10:26 PM
What's the speaking order for the remaining senators?

by Anonymous Coward 9/27/2018 9:19:17 PM
Okay, we are getting going again.

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:28:21 PM
Kavanaugh apologizes to Klobuchar about asking whether she had ever blacked out. Klobuchar says she appreciates that; when you're the child of an alcoholic, you are careful about your drinking.

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:30:11 PM
Hatch, R-Utah is speaking.

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:30:24 PM
Hatch: This man is not a monster.

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:30:52 PM
It's not clear what order the Republicans are going in. Mitchell was ceded time by three of them, but it's not clear which ones and now they are asking their own questions in what appears to be a random order.

by Edith Roberts 9/27/2018 9:31:32 PM
Hatch: We agree that if Kavanaugh committed this assault, he should not be confirmed. But the circus atmosphere after Democrats sat on allegation has not helped us.

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:31:45 PM
Hatch: This is worse than Bork and Thomas and I didn't think it could get worse than that. This is a national disgrace.

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:32:11 PM
Kavanaugh was an immature high schooler. That he wrote or said stupid things doesn't make him a sexual predator.

by Edith Roberts 9/27/2018 9:33:04 PM
Hatch: Guilt by association is wrong. That Kavanaugh drank in high school and college does not make him guilty of what he's been accused of.

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:33:40 PM
Hatch: When did you first learn of allegations?

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:33:52 PM
Immaturity does not equal criminality. A lifetime of respect and equal treatment ought to mean something.

by Edith Roberts 9/27/2018 9:33:55 PM
Kavanaugh: A week ago Sunday with the WaPo story.

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:34:04 PM
Hatch: Did ranking member raise when you met or in hearing or written questions? [No] First time asked by ranking member about allegation? [Today]

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:34:40 PM
Coons, D-Del.

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:35:06 PM
Coons: I've found some of your answers evasive on key issues.

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:35:41 PM
Against backdrop of previous hearing sessions is how Coons is assessing today's testimony.

by Edith Roberts 9/27/2018 9:35:52 PM
Coons: Have you ever gotten aggressive while drinking or forgotten an evening? [Two questions, as for the first, basically no, what are you talking about?]

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:36:23 PM
Coons: Do you remember Liz Swisher?

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:36:59 PM
Coons: She said Brett Kavanaugh drank more than a lot of people. How should we assess that?

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:37:47 PM
Coons: Quoting other college classmates re Kavanaugh's drinking.

by Edith Roberts 9/27/2018 9:38:45 PM
Coons: Why not agree to a one-week pause to allow the FBI to investigate these allegations in order to clear your name? [All four witnesses alleged to be at the event said it didn't happen.]

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:39:44 PM
Coons: If you were conducting a job search for a very important position and a credible allegation about a candidate came up near the end of the process, wouldn't you want to investigate further?

by Edith Roberts 9/27/2018 9:40:03 PM
Coons: I've struggled with the absence of a fair, neutral, law-enforcement investigation. I'm concerned with what this will do to the credibility of the court and will hang over your service.

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:40:17 PM
Kavanaugh: For us, every day has been a lifetime. It's been investigated.

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:40:40 PM
Grassley: There could have been time over the summer for an investigation.

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:41:49 PM
(Coons is D-Del., not D-Conn.)

by dc074 9/27/2018 9:42:19 PM
Lee, R-Utah

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:43:00 PM
Lee: You do not control the FBI, correct? [That's correct]

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:43:14 PM
Lee: Feinstein had a moral obligation to contact the FBI when she first heard about the allegations.

by Edith Roberts 9/27/2018 9:44:18 PM
Lee: But whenever we asked you questions, you were attentive and responsive. Two ironies. At least one of my colleagues had access to this information weeks before anyone else. Also, calling for investigation by FBI while we are in the middle of a conversation with you.

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:44:49 PM
Lee: During Clarence Thomas hearing, Biden made observations about FBI -- FBI does not reach conclusions or recommendations

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:46:38 PM
Sasse slides in for last minute to Lee, so Kennedy can have his time.

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:47:24 PM
Sasse: I think Dr. Ford is a victim. But Feinstein had recommended she hire a lawyer before the first hearing, and this was never asked?

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:48:43 PM
Blumenthal, D-Conn.

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:49:04 PM
Blumenthal: False in one thing, false in everything -- jury instructions mean that jury can disbelieve witness if find him to be false in one thing. The core of why we are here is credibility. [Core of why we're here is because of allegation the four witnesses say didn't happen.]

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:50:15 PM
Blumenthal asked about Renate Alumnus, Kavanaugh says question is false.

by Andrew Hamm 9/27/2018 9:51:04 PM

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Academic highlight: Levitt on the collateral consequences of Department of Commerce v. New York – Amanda Frost

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The Supreme Court released orders from the April 12 conference on Monday; the justices called for the views of the U.S. solicitor general in Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association.
On Monday, the justices heard oral argument in Iancu v. Brunetti and Emulex Corp. v. Varjabedian.
On Tuesday, the justices heard oral argument in Parker Drilling Management Services, Ltd. v. Newton and North Carolina Department of Revenue v. The Kimberley Rice Kaestner 1992 Family Trust.
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On Thursday, the justices met for their April 18 conference; John Elwood's Relist Watch compiles the petitions that were relisted for this conference.
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  (1) Whether the district court erred in enjoining the secretary of the Department of Commerce from reinstating a question about citizenship to the 2020 decennial census on the ground that the secretary’s decision violated the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 701 et seq; (2) whether, in an action seeking to set aside agency action under the APA, a district court may order discovery outside the administrative record to probe the mental processes of the agency decisionmaker -- including by compelling the testimony of high-ranking executive branch officials -- without a strong showing that the decisionmaker disbelieved the objective reasons in the administrative record, irreversibly prejudged the issue, or acted on a legally forbidden basis; and (3) whether the secretary’s decision to add a citizenship question to the decennial census violated the enumeration clause of the U.S. Constitution.
- Lamone v. Benisek
  In case in which the plaintiffs allege that a Maryland congressional district was gerrymandered to retaliate against them for their political views: (1) whether the various legal claims articulated by the three-judge district court are unmanageable; (2) whether the three-judge district court erred when, in granting plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, it resolved disputes of material fact as to multiple elements of plaintiffs’ claims, failed to view the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, and treated as “undisputed” evidence that is the subject of still-unresolved hearsay and other evidentiary objections; and (3) whether the three-judge district court abused its discretion in entering an injunction despite the plaintiffs’ years-long delay in seeking injunctive relief, rendering the remedy applicable to at most one election before the next decennial census necessitates another redistricting.
- Kisor v. Wilkie
  Whether the Supreme Court should overrule Auer v. Robbins and Bowles v. Seminole Rock & Sand Co., which direct courts to defer to an agency’s reasonable interpretation of its own ambiguous regulation.
- Rucho v. Common Cause
  (1) Whether plaintiffs have standing to press their partisan gerrymandering claims; (2) whether plaintiffs’ partisan gerrymandering claims are justiciable; and (3) whether North Carolina’s 2016 congressional map is, in fact, an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.
- The American Legion v. American Humanist Association
  (1) Whether a 93-year-old memorial to the fallen of World War I is unconstitutional merely because it is shaped like a cross; (2) whether the constitutionality of a passive display incorporating religious symbolism should be assessed under the tests articulated in Lemon v. Kurtzman, Van Orden v. Perry, Town of Greece v. Galloway or some other test; and (3) whether, if the test from Lemon v. Kurtzman applies, the expenditure of funds for the routine upkeep and maintenance of a cross-shaped war memorial, without more, amounts to an excessive entanglement with religion in violation of the First Amendment.
- Gamble v. United States
  Whether the Supreme Court should overrule the “separate sovereigns” exception to the double jeopardy clause.
see all this term’s cases »
Recent Decisions
- Biestek v. Berryhill A vocational expert’s refusal to provide private market-survey data during a Social Security disability benefits hearing upon the applicant’s request does not categorically preclude the testimony from counting as “substantial evidence” in federal court under 42 U. S. C. §405(g).
- Bucklew v. Precythe Baze v. Rees and Glossip v. Gross govern all Eighth Amendment challenges alleging that a method of execution inflicts unconstitutionally cruel pain; Russell Bucklew’s as-applied challenge to Missouri’s single-drug execution protocol -- that it would cause him severe pain because of his particular medical condition -- fails to satisfy the Baze-Glossip test.
- Lorenzo v. Securities and Exchange Commission Dissemination of false or misleading statements with intent to defraud can fall within the scope of Securities and Exchange Commission Rules 10b–5(a) and (c), as well as the relevant statutory provisions, even if the disseminator cannot be held liable under Rule 10b–5(b).
- Republic of Sudan v. Harrison When civil process is served on a foreign state under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976, 28 U. S. C. §1608(a)(3) requires a mailing to be sent directly to the foreign minister’s office in the foreign state.
- Sturgeon v. Frost Alaska’s Nation River is not public land; and like all non-public lands and navigable waters within Alaska’s national parks, it is exempt under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act from the National Park Service’s ordinary regulatory authority.
see all this term’s cases »
Current Relists
- Altitude Express Inc. v. Zarda Whether the prohibition in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1), against employment discrimination “because of . . . sex” encompasses discrimination based on an individual’s sexual orientation.
- Barton v. Barr Whether a lawfully admitted permanent resident who is not seeking admission to the United States can be “render[ed] ... inadmissible” for the purposes of the stop-time rule, 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(d)(1).
- Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia Whether discrimination against an employee because of sexual orientation constitutes prohibited employment discrimination “because of . . . sex” within the meaning of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2.
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Justice Thomas at Pepperdine Law School

On March 30, Justice Clarence Thomas spoke with former clerk Brittney Lane Kubisch and Pepperdine University President-elect James Gash at Pepperdine University School of Law. Thomas told the audience that he had no plans to retire from the Supreme Court.

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Cases argued	63
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Editor's Note :

Scribble

Live blog of confirmation hearing | September 27, 2018

We live-blogged as the Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony from Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.

Featured Posts

Academic highlight: Levitt on the collateral consequences of Department of Commerce v. New York – Amanda Frost

New rules mean tighter deadlines, fewer words – Amy Howe

Relist Watch: The Muller Report – John Elwood

Sponsored by Casetext

SCOTUStalk see all

Email Digest Sign-Up

Merits Case Pages and Archives

Major Cases

Recent Decisions

Current Relists

Conference of April 19, 2019

Recent Special Features

Live Blog Archives

Apr. 2019

Download our App in the Apple Store

Videos see all

Peabody Award

Sigma Delta Chi

National Press Club Award

Silver Gavel Award

American Gavel Award

Webby Award