Lisa Blatt, a self-proclaimed "liberal feminist lawyer," has come out in defense of President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and argued for why Senate Democrats should support his nomination.
Blatt penned a Politico Magazine opinion piece, published Wednesday and titled, "I’m a Liberal Feminist Lawyer. Here’s Why Democrats Should Support Judge Kavanaugh," in which she made the case for why she believes Senate Democrats shouldn't try to obstruct Kavanaugh's path to confirmation.
The attorney, who heads the Supreme Court practice at Arnold & Porter, said she has argued 35 cases before the Supreme Court and worked in the Solicitor General’s Office for 13 years during the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations. While she acknowledged that she will be attacked by her friends on the left for speaking up in support of Kavanaugh, she believes everyone will benefit from having smart and qualified judges on the highest court regardless of the ideology of the administration.
She slammed Republicans for blocking former President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, calling it a "disgrace," but argued it is not a reason not to support Kavanaugh.
"What happened to Merrick Garland was a disgrace. His nomination was the Democratic equivalent of Kavanaugh’s. Garland, too, is brilliant, admired, experienced, sober and humane," Blatt wrote. "Indeed, Kavanaugh himself called Garland "supremely qualified" for the Supreme Court. That he made that statement while Garland’s nomination was pending—and was the subject of intense partisan warfare—says a great deal about Kavanaugh’s character."
"But unless the Democrats want to stand on the principle of an eye-for-an-eye—and I don’t think they should—folks should stop pretending that Kavanaugh or his record is the issue," she continued. "He is supremely qualified. Although this fact is distressing, Republicans control both the White House and Senate. In comparable circumstances, when President Barack Obama was in office, our party appointed two Justices to the Supreme Court."
Blatt said she first met Kavanaugh in 2009 shortly after leaving the Solicitor General’s Office when he spontaneously emailed her to say he liked an article she wrote for the Green Bag about her experience arguing in front of the Supreme Court.
Months later, she asked Kavanaugh to join her for a panel at Georgetown Law School to review a film about college debate. The judge told her he had no experience with debating, but agreed to help her, offering advice to the law students about the importance of learning to get along with their teammates, learning from their mistakes, and having fun. She said it was clear from their interactions that he cared about mentoring and teaching law students.
Since then, I’ve kept in regular contact with the judge, mostly to talk about kids and work-life balance, including the challenges I’ve had as a woman trying to raise two children while practicing law. Kavanaugh is a great listener, and one of the warmest, friendliest and kindest individuals I know. And other than my former boss, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, I know of no other judge who stands out for hiring female law clerks. My profession is overrun with men, and unless institutions like the Supreme Court do more to hire women, the upper echelons of my profession will never fully include women.
I do not have a single litmus test for a nominee. My standard is whether the nominee is unquestionably well-qualified, brilliant, has integrity and is within the mainstream of legal thought. Kavanaugh easily meets those criteria. I have no insight into his views on Roe v. Wade—something extremely important to me as a liberal, female Democrat and mother of a teenage girl. But whatever he decides on Roe, I know it will be because he believes the Constitution requires that result.
She concluded her piece by instructing Democrats to quite attacking Kavanaugh and saying it was "unbecoming" to block his nomination "simply because they want to," adding that their actions could risk alienating intelligent individuals.
Kavanaugh, who was nominated in June to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy on the nation’s highest court, will now face confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. A vote before the full Senate will follow, assuming he clears the smaller committee. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) vowed that a vote will happen this fall before midterm elections. Republicans control the Senate 51-49, but the vote may depend on Republicans and vulnerable Democrats in red states.
Ezra Levin, the co-founder of Indivisible Project, a progressive group formed as a reaction to the election of Donald Trump, said last month the group will fight to defeat Kavanaugh by forcing Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) to vote against him.