Democratic senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York reaffirmed her opposition to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in a Tuesday night tweet and said her colleagues must decide “if women’s voices, traumas and stories matter to them” in determining how to vote on the confirmation.
“The stakes of the vote on Kavanaugh? Deciding whether we’re a country that listens to and believes women. Each of my colleagues in the Senate needs to determine if women’s voices, traumas and stories matter to them. I’ve made my decision,” Gillibrand wrote.
Gillibrand’s comments echo those of her fellow Democratic senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, who suggested on Tuesday night that the multiple challenges to Kavanaugh’s credibility should disqualify him, regardless of whether he is guilty of sexual assault.
“Ultimately — [it’s] not whether he’s innocent or guilty. This is not a trial. . . . Have enough questions been raised that we should not move on to another candidate?” Booker, a 2020 presidential hopeful, asked on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
In responding to the allegations against him last week, Kavanaugh referenced the charged rhetoric Booker employed prior to and during the initial confirmation hearings, arguing that Booker’s description of him as “evil” legitimized the reckless, partisan character assassination he believes he’s been subjected to.
“In a moral moment, there is [sic] no bystanders,” Booker said in July. “You are either complicit in the evil, you are either contributing to the wrong, or you are fighting against it.”
While the fight over Kavanaugh’s nomination has predictably broken down along party lines, three key Republican senators — Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Jeff Flake of Arizona — remain undecided just two days before the Senate is scheduled to vote on his confirmation.