Vice President Mike Pence enters the room earlier this month as Sen. James Inhofe, right, conducts a meeting after a Senate GOP policy luncheon in the Capitol. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Vice President Mike Pence returned to Missouri Thursday to again campaign against Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill and raise money for her opponent, pressuring her to support President Donald Trump’s second Supreme Court nominee.
“If Claire won’t vote to confirm a judge like Brett Kavanaugh, you need to vote to give Missouri a senator who will,” Pence said in St. Louis of the solidly conservative D.C. Circuit appellate judge.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, left, expects a vote on Brett Kavanaugh before the October Supreme Court term begins. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
Speaking in Louisville on Friday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell re-affirmed the timeline for considering the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court.
“The timetable typically, for recent Supreme Court Justices, if we stuck to that timetable, and I intend to, would give us an opportunity to get this new justice on the court by the 1st of October, and all of you may know that’s what’s called the October term,” McConnell told reporters back in his home state.
Marc Short, White House legislative affairs director, outside the Senate Republican policy lunches in the Capitol in January. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
White House legislative affairs director Marc Short will leave his post this summer after helping President Donald Trump secure tax cuts, a Supreme Court justice, eliminate part of the Obama-era health law, open the Arctic for energy extraction, and nix a slew of federal regulations.
Short — with his signature shaved head — was the most visible Trump administration official on Capitol Hill, often chatting with reporters as he traversed the hallways going from meetings with leadership and rank-and-file members about the president’s legislative whims and demands. Affable yet firm, Short seemed eager to joust with reporters on cable news, the Hill and even under the blistering summer sun in the White House’s north driveway.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., was the target of Vice President Mike Pence when he made a stop in her home state on Wednesday. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)
Vice President Mike Pence told an audience in Missouri the state “deserves better” than Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, whom he pressured to vote for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
“The Democratic Party has gone farther to the left than ever before. And you only need to look at Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill to see that,” he said during remarks in Kansas City. “Every single Democrat in Congress voted against President Trump’s tax cuts. When it came time to cut your taxes, Sen. Claire McCaskill voted no.”
White House Counsel Don McGahn, right, and former Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., arrive at the Capitol on Tuesday as they escort Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Vice President Mike Pence to meetings with senators. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
He spent 18 years as a senator on the Judiciary Committee, the last six as the Republican whip and No. 2 in leadership. Now his lobbying clients include a group already spending millions to push the federal courts hard right. His big gig on the side is rooting out perceived liberal bias on social media.
If Jon Kyl does not have the ideal background for successfully shepherding a Supreme Court nominee through this Senate, perhaps no one does.
Reporters swarm Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, as she arrives in the Capitol on Tuesday, the day after President Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Murkowski, who supported Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, is an expected to be a key vote on the current nomination. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
The selection of Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court will have less of an impact on November’s midterms than you think. Sure, depending how the confirmation process develops, it’s possible the nomination could affect a handful of races, but the most likely scenario will not change the overall trajectory of the November elections.
The most likely outcome of the Kavanaugh nomination involves all 50 Republican senators voting to confirm him to the Supreme Court (with John McCain not voting).
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, right, and White House Counsel Don McGahn in the Capitol after meetings with senators Tuesday. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
The judge that President Barack Obama unsuccessfully tried to put on the Supreme Court in 2016 and the judge President Donald Trump selected Monday sit on the same federal appeals court — and their divergent rulings in recent cases echo the Senate’s partisan divide on key policy issues.
The two judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit — Obama pick Merrick Garland and Trump pick Brett Kavanaugh — went different ways in just the past two years on cases about immigration and abortion, criminal sentencing, police misconduct claims and employee rights.
Stephanie Clifford, also known as adult film star and director Stormy Daniels, arrives for her first night of her two-night appearance surrounded by security at The Cloakroom strip club in Washington on Monday. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
On Monday night, President Donald Trump held the big reveal of his Supreme Court reality show.
Ever the one for ratings, Trump knew he won “big league” with social conservatives last year when he nominated Neil Gorsuch to the high court.
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, center, walks up the Capitol's Senate steps with Vice President Mike Pence for a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on July 10, 2018. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
As Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh made his first appearances Tuesday on Capitol Hill, several Senate Democrats said the judge had to make his case for their support.
For instance, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont is a senior member of the Judiciary Committee that will oversee Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing. He pressed Republicans to use their own standard for Elena Kagan, now a Supreme Court Justice nominated by former President Barack Obama.
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