HAIL MARY

Democratic Senator Files Injunction in Effort to Stop Kavanaugh Vote

Sen. Jeff Merkley said the lack of records released prior to the confirmation vote was an “unprecedented obstruction.”

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) filed an injunction in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Wednesday in an effort to stop Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote, Politico reports. Merkley argues in the injunction that the defendants—including President Trump, Senators Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and the National Archives—have prevented him and other senators from “fulfilling their constitutional obligations to provide advice and consent” on Kavanaugh’s confirmation by withholding records from Kavanaugh’s time in the Bush administration. In a statement to Politico, Merkley said the lack of records released prior to the confirmation vote was an “unprecedented obstruction“ and an “assault on the separation of powers.” “The President and Mitch McConnell want to ram through this nomination come hell or high water, without real advice or informed consent by the Senate, but that’s just not how our Constitution works,” Merkley wrote.