„…if they want to be able to vote on Friday they had to announce this today.“
This afternoon the Judiciary Committee announced it was scheduling a vote on Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination for Friday morning, one day after it hears from accuser Christine Blasey Ford. NBC’s Frank Thorp published the announcement and also pointed out that rules require the committee “to give three days notice before a vote.” So if they want a vote this week, they need to announce it today.
Of note: The Judiciary Cmte is required to give three days notice before a vote, so if they want to be able to vote on Friday they had to annnounce this today. If Grassley wants/needs to postpone the Cmte vote from Friday he can do so.
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) September 25,2018
Chairman Grassley (or his staff) was quick to clarify that this is a “POTENTIAL” meeting and that it doesn’t require Senators to vote. “If we aren’t ready, we won’t,” he says.
Judic Cmte noticed POTENTIAL exec mtg for Friday. Still taking this 1 step at a time. After hrg Dr Ford & Judge Kavanaugh’s testimony- if we‘re ready to vote, we will vote. If we aren’t ready, we won’t. Cmte rules normally require 3 days notice so we‘re following regular order
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) September 25,2018
But that’s apparently not good enough for Sen. Dianne Feinstein who says she is outraged:
FEINSTEIN: “For Republicans to schedule a Friday vote on Brett Kavanaugh today, two days before Dr. Blasey Ford has had a chance to tell her story, is outrageous.” pic.twitter.com/4udV0v3iXp
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) September 25,2018
Does Feinstein have a point here? Is one day enough to consider the allegations?
At this point, there are three accusers. The one talking to Michael Avenatti hasn’t come forward yet though he has said she will do so this week. For the moment, Democrats are keeping their distance from Avenatti, at least in public. Deborah Ramirez, the second accuser who was featured in the Ronan Farrow story, says she’s not planning to testify. That leaves only Christine Blasey Ford, though her attorneys were still attempting to wrangle control of the hearing as recently as yesterday. So there’s still at least a slight chance she will balk at some decision made by the committee and refuse to appear.
If Blasey Ford fails to show up, this is over and Grassley will have made a good choice to get the vote on the schedule for the next day. If Blasey Ford does show up and testify then Kavanaugh will also testify and it will be time for the committee to make a decision about what they’ve heard. They could vote not to proceed to a floor vote if Blasey Ford’s testimony is both damning and convincing. But whatever they decide, they can decide it Friday.
I suspect this will be the first of many similar complaints from Democrats who know about the 3-day scheduling rule. Looking back at the history of this process, it’s clear that what Democrats have wanted all along is to create more delay. So I would not be at all surprised to see some combination of events that serve to prevent a Friday vote. What could that be? Here are a few options off the top of my head:
All of that to say, it’s very possible this vote will be postponed yet again by Democrats working behind the scenes. I hope I’m wrong about that, but that seems to be what Democrats have been pushing for all along. Why would they stop now?
