Hirono: Your colleagues have taken the time to criticize your dissents. [There's a sign now that say, "The dissent ... creates its own rule." I can't see what that's from.]
Hirono: This doesn't sound like such a pro-law judge to me.
Kavanaugh: I stand by my record.
Sen. Crapo, R-Idaho, now on.
Crapo is going through different letters of support for Kavanaugh.
One of these is from Kavanaugh's former classmates at Georgetown Prep.
Crapo: My colleagues have asked you about the old independent counsel statute. I think it's important to walk through the differences from the current, special counsel situation.
Crapo: Scope of the special counsel investigation is determined by attorney general. Independent counsel was effectively limitless. Also, independent counsel only removed by three judge panel, not for cause.
Crapo now going through some Democrats, including Eric Holder, who questioned the old independent counsel statute.
Crapo: There is no nominee ever asked a more robust questionnaire for this committee than you.
Crapo: You've also got a judicial record, which senators frequently cite as the most important part of a record. Unfortunately, we haven't seen much attention.
Crapo: What's different about the DC Circuit?
Kavanaugh: All the courts of appeals are important. The DC Circuit does get more regulatory cases because the federal administrative agencies are located there.
That includes some of the separation of powers cases, the national security cases.
Has handled over 2000 cases, written 307 decisions.
Crapo: In what percentage was Kavanaugh in the majority? Kavanaugh says 97 percent sounds correct.
Crapo: The pattern is that Kavanaugh is working with his colleagues in a united way.
Kavanaugh: There were 13 cases that the Supreme Court took my position, one case in which there was a reversal.
Crapo: The pattern is that Kavanaugh is in the mainstream of the judiciary.
Crapo: Are there any cases you would like to note?
Kavanaugh: I'll let you ask first.
Crapo: You've been criticized about equal treatment for women. But you had a case about criminal conviction for a woman for extortion. She claimed she had been repeatedly battered by her boyfriend.
Kavanaugh: The jurors needed to hear the battered-woman defense. Expert testimony explains why she would have not just walked away. Sometimes you can't just walk away.
Crapo: What about reversal of dismissal of Title VII complaint alleging race discrimination?
Kavanaugh: As we analyzed it, evidence was sufficient.
Sen. Crapo just referred to colleague of Kavanaugh's on the D.C. Circuit named Merrick Garlic.
Kavanaugh: Original sin of the Constitution was its tolerance of slavery.
Crapo moves to another Title VII case.
Kavanaugh: If transferred laterally with same pay and benefits, is that really a change?
Kavanaugh: I don't see how all discriminatory transfers aren't unlawful under the civil rights statutes.
Kavanaugh: The legacy of all white juries convicting African American defendants is one of the unfortunate legacies of our history. I want to make sure Batson decision is not limited.
Crapo: What kind of justice will you be?
Kavanaugh: I will be an independent judge who follows the law and Constitution as written.
We'll be back at five after eight. It looks like we'll be going until after 10 tonight.
We are going to get going again pretty soon.
We still have two more Democrats and two more Republicans to go. We're expecting the order to be Booker (D-N.J.), Tillis (R-N.C.), Harris (D-Calif.) and Kennedy (R-La.). Each senator will get thirty minutes, so it's at least two more hours from here.
The nominee just re-entered the room. A lot fewer camera clicks this time to greet him than all the other times.
Sen. Booker, D-N.J., now up.
Booker: This case [Rice] is one more step along the way before the court says we're all one race in the eyes of government. Do you think you were wrong that discrimination would be over by 2019?
Kavanaugh: That was an aspirational comment.
Booker: What were you thinking in 1999 that would allow you to make such an aspirational comment? What was happening in the 90s?
Kavanaugh: Hope [sounded like "Hope?"]
Booker: We know the trends that were happening in the 90s. Then Booker cites statistics about incarceration and other race disparities.
Booker: Scalia said race-conscious programs are racial entitlement. Do you think remedies in the Fair Housing Act to address racially-denied home loans are about racial entitlements or racial justice?
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