Trump Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh to face Senate Judiciary Committee

Today confirmation hearings will begin for President Trump’s second nominee to the US Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh.

Will Jay, a former assistant to the Solicitor General, expressed that the hearing will not amount to much. This alludes to the Ginsburg rule, the established norm of nominees refusing to answer how they would decide a particular case.

Democrats are likely to unsuccessfully probe Kavanaugh as to whether he may overturn or drastically overhaul past judgements made with respect to trade unions. This comes in light of a June judgement which saw a 5-4 majority in the Supreme Court rule that union contributions are voluntary for government employees.

Furthermore, while Democrats will likely demand the disclosure of 100,000 pages of Kavanaugh’s records which are held under executive privilege, this is unlikely to occur.

If Kavanaugh is confirmed, expect a strong conservative shift in the US Supreme Court. Chief Justice Roberts, who has a largely conservative track record, will become the swing vote, significantly altering the ideological dynamics of the court.

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