DEMS/NOMINATIONS/SUPREME COURT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Senate Democrats, facing an uphill struggle to reject the nomination of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, opened a broad attack on Tuesday [7-10-18], painting him as an arch-conservative who would roll back abortion rights, undo health care protections, ease gun restrictions and protect President Trump against the threat of impeachment. But the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, excoriated Democrats for engaging in what he called ‘cheap political fear-mongering,’ and for declaring their opposition to Judge Kavanaugh even before his nomination was announced…As Judge Kavanaugh arrived at the Capitol to meet with the Republican leader and the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the committee’s Democrats and the Democratic leader took to the Supreme Court steps to deliver a direct appeal to Americans to rise up in opposition to his nomination..Before Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination on Monday night, Democrats had centered their strategy on abortion rights and health care. But the judge has given them a new line of attack: a 1998 law review article that he wrote casting doubt on whether a president could be indicted — a theory that goes to the heart of the special counsel’s investigation of Mr. Trump.”
–Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Thomas Kaplan, “Senate Democrats Come Out Swinging in Long-Shot Fight to Block Kavanaugh,” The New York times online, July 10, 2018