Thread by @jbendery

Gm! ☕️

ICYMI: One of Biden's nominees to a U.S. appeals court repeatedly declined to say if she thinks Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh is “intellectually and morally bankrupt,” a characterization she endorsed in 2018.

Republicans went nuts. huffpost.com/entry/brett-ka…

A few notable moments from Jennifer Sung's confirmation hearing yesterday.

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JK (1/?)

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Sung, a labor lawyer and former union organizer in Oregon, is up for a seat on the 9th Circuit.

Republicans took turns yesterday trying get Sung to say she did not feel this way about Kavanaugh anymore. Some made quite a show of it, esp Sen. Kennedy.

Sung must have fielded the question 12, 15, 20 times on whether she thinks Kavanaugh is "intellectually and morally bankrupt" -- a phrase used to describe him in an open letter she signed in 2018.

Each time, she said she respects his authority on SCOTUS + SCOTUS precedents.

I, for one, was surprised and laughed. Sung held her ground. She wasn't about to praise Brett Kavanaugh personally in some attempt to get confirmed.

The Senate Republicans who went after her aren't going to vote for her anyway.

But one thing to watch here, for anyone following Sung's process, is Republicans fuming about her past criticism of Kav + using it as an excuse not to vote for her.

This is not new. A number of Trump’s appeals court nominees had done this, GOP senators had no issue with it.

For ex...

Now-Judge David Porter had previously described Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination as “judicial elitism.”

Now-Judge Neomi Rao actually testified against Sotomayor in her confirmation hearing, criticizing her “personal, consequentialist approach to judging.

Another, now-Judge David Stras, had previously said President Barack Obama ”could have done much better″ than picking Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, and called her hearing answers ”uninspiring and even misleading.”

So many Republicans went after Sung for her past criticism of Kavanaugh, I'd guess this is going to be their argument against her going forward.

But they all voted to confirm those other appeals court nominees I just listed. No probs with their past criticisms of Sotomayor.

GOP Sen. John Kennedy acted very outraged at Sung about this. He asked her over and over again what she thinks of Kavanaugh -- interrupting her repeatedly as she tried to answer.

He became so overbearing that Sen. Dick Durbin jumped in to tell him to give Sung a chance to talk.

Kennedy was incredibly rude to Sung. Shouting, interrupting, dismissing her over and over again.

Also wtf with this?

It was tense.

Dem Sen. Patrick Leahy finally jumped in.

“This idea, that especially if we have a woman nominee, you can interrupt her any time you want, state your own things, she’s answered this question over and over again. I would hope we’d get back and show some respect."

Kennedy said he wasn't being rude b/c Sung was a woman.

"I resent the suggestion that I’m doing that because she’s a woman I would be doing it if she made those intemperate remarks as a male. And I don’t believe the senator has any evidence to show that I’m being misogynistic."

Leahy noted Republicans' voting record on the committee when it comes to advancing judicial nominees who are women or people of color.

I checked. Kennedy, for one, has voted in committee against all 4 of Biden’s now-confirmed appeals court judges ― all of whom are Black women.

"I’ve seen, in my years here, which is longer than anybody else’s ... a disproportionate number of votes against women and people of color, especially women of color," @SenatorLeahy said. huffpost.com/entry/brett-ka…

Anyway, there was a lot going on in this Senate hearing. It felt tense and ugly at times. Durbin, the chairman, eventually took over and said it was time to move on.

“We’re going to terminate this conversation and go back to the business of the committee."

It's all in here. huffpost.com/entry/brett-ka…