WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a quick session with reporters at the Values Voter Summit on Friday, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said that if Democrats were to succeed in delaying the vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh until the midterm elections in November, that would help Republicans win elections.
When asked by a German TV reporter what would happen if Kavanaugh were not confirmed in the next few weeks, Perkins said, “I think it would be helpful to the Republicans, quite frankly, because I think people will see that the Left will do everything they can to keep control of the courts.”
“I think it’s to the benefit of Chuck Schumer and his crew to allow the Senate to vote,” he added.
Democrats have been delaying a vote on Kavanaugh, first in order to allow Christine Blasey Ford, who recently accused Kavanaugh of sexual assaulting her 36 years ago, to testify, and then to allow an FBI investigation into her claims. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley has explained that this investigation would not be the FBI’s job, because the process of advising and consenting to a Supreme Court nominee is the Senate’s purview alone.
Even so, Democrats have accused Republicans of “bullying” Ford into testifying, the very thing her lawyers said on Monday that she wanted to do. Importantly, the Senate Judiciary Committee has offered to hear Ford privately, to accept her testimony told to staffers, or to hold a private hearing, in addition to the offer of a public hearing.
Perkins noted that evangelical Christian voters turned out to vote for Donald Trump in 2016 due to Trump’s promise to nominate originalist judges to the Supreme Court.
“This was one of the top issues in the 2016 election,” Perkins said. “The reason that so many evangelicals voted for this president, at the top of the list of reasons was the Supreme Court.”
“They understand that the left has failed in this country in terms of convincing Americans that their ideas work, so they’ve resorted to imposing them on the American people through the courts,” Perkins said, referring to the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion and perhaps the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision legalizing same-sex marriage.
“When there was an opportunity to see this court brought back within its boundaries according to the Constitution, that’s why they got behind President Trump,” the FRC president added. After 2016, Trump has “proven that he can pick those type of justices with Justice Gorsuch, and there’s every reason to believe Judge Kanaugh would be the same.”
On Thursday, Ed Whelan, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC), presented a plausible explanation for Ford’s sexual assault allegations that also honored Kavanaugh’s categorical denial of even being at the party where the assault allegedly occurred. Whelan suggested that a friend and classmate of Kavanaugh’s was involved — and the classmate did indeed look like Kavanaugh at the time and since. That classmate’s house matches the description from Ford’s sexual assault allegations.
When asked by PJ Media about Whelan’s theory, Perkins refused to speculate on it.
“I’m not going to speculate as to who may have done what,” the FRC president said. “What has made this very suspect is the fact that Dianne Feinstein sat on this for six weeks, could have brought it up with her meeting with Kavanaugh, could have brought it up in the public hearing, could have brought it up in a private hearing, but waited until the eve of the vote.”
“It really taints the allegation by the way it was handled,” he added.
Indeed, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) did not bring up the allegation in private meetings with Kavanaugh, in the public hearing, or in any private hearing. Ford’s lawyers suggest Feinstein was honoring Ford’s request to remain anonymous, but the senator could have brought up the allegations in a private setting.
Kavanaugh was extremely popular at the Values Voter Summit. When Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell predicted that the judge would be confirmed to the Supreme Court, he received a standing ovation.
Standing ovation at #VVS18 for @SenateMajLdr Mitch McConnell as he says, “In a very short time, Brett Kavanaugh will be on the Supreme Court!” @frcdc @PJMedia_com pic.twitter.com/9nRxyZmNIS
— Tyler O'Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) September 21, 2018
Follow the author of this article on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member