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Hirono cancels meeting with Kavanaugh and will oppose Supreme Court nomination

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh

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U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, seen here at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in January, announced her opposition to Brett Kavanaugh for the U.S. Supreme Court.

U.S. Sen. Mazie K. Hirono announced today that she will oppose the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Donald Trump long ago announced his intention to nominate a judge off of a list prepared by the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation,” said Hirono in a news release. “When it became clear he chose the one person from that list who believes presidents should not be subject to criminal investigations or civil suits, I knew that nominee would have a very heavy burden of proof. Given his lengthy record of partisan political activity, I could not give him the benefit of the doubt.”

Hirono said she spent the last six weeks reading Kavanaugh’s opinions and dissents from his time on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, along with his law reviews, speeches and the “relatively few documents” from his federal service that Judiciary Committee Senators have been allowed to see.

“It is clear to me that he is not a fair-minded judge and would not be a fair-minded justice,” she said.

Hirono went on to say Kavanaugh favors big business and polluters, and has ruled against protections for the environment, workers and women.

The Hawaii Democrat also canceled a meeting with Kavanaugh.

This morning, she had some strong words for President Trump before the Senate Judiciary Committee in response to news about his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen’s guilty plea as well as the conviction of his past campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

“These are not normal times,” she said. “And these are certainly not the times for this committee to consider a Supreme Court nominee of this president, especially a nominee who thinks the president should be immune from investigation. We cannot abandon common sense in this dangerous time for our democracy. So, as I have said before, we should delay this hearing for Judge Kavanaugh. For so many reasons it is not the time … This president, who is an unindicted co-conspirator in a criminal matter, does not deserve the courtesy of a meeting with his nominee — purposely selected to protect, as we say in Hawaii, his own okole.”

Hirono is traveling home to Hawaii to be with family and constituents in advance of Hurricane Lane.

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