Sheldon Whitehouse (D - RI) Definitely No 2018 election seat
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September 20: Senate Republicans are attempting to make Dr. Blasey Ford testify on just a few days’ notice—without having the FBI follow up on her allegations and provide a report first. This strikes us as simply a check-the-box exercise in a rush to confirm Judge Kavanaugh. It is for this reason that we urge you to reconsider your decision and ask the FBI to take appropriate action in response to the claims that have been made, so that Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination can be considered by the Senate in a manner that is both consistent with past practices and fair to the parties involved and the American people. (senate.gov)
September 10: The Supreme Court needs to stand alone, tall and independent, and Americans should feel confident their cases will be decided on the merits, not the identities of the parties or the identities of big interests appearing behind the scenes. Judge Kavanaugh has failed to give Americans that assurance, and he will not get my vote. (senate.gov)
August 24: Given the possibility of criminal wrongdoing by the President, doubts that Judge Kavanaugh believes a president can even be investigated, and the unprecedented lack of transparency regarding this nominee's record, we should not move forward with hearings on September 4th. Instead, we should have a special meeting of the Committee to discuss a bipartisan, fair, and transparent process for moving forward. (Twitter)
August 8: “When Democratic senators have to resort to a government transparency statute to get the information needed to carry out our constitutional advice-and-consent duties, it means that Republican senators really don't want Americans to see what's in Kavanaugh’s files,” said Whitehouse. “As he proved with his brazen blockade of President Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, Senator McConnell will trash the rulebook to get his guy on the court.” (senate.gov)
July 10: I want to take my look at him, and I want to get answers to a bunch of questions. I have plenty of time before I'm obliged to cast a vote on him. And I think, for awhile, it's actually really important for the American people to understand that these Republican judicial nominees are coming through a special interest obstacle course moderated in secret by the Federalist Society, that there's a whole dark-money operation that goes into action to support their confirmations politically -- one donor gave nearly $18 million into the Garland to Gorsuch fight -- so there's a lot of smelly stuff that happens in this process that I think is going to be educational for Americans as we look later at Brett Kavanaugh. But we shouldn't look away from this messy process too early and have the American people not understand how this is the early stages of rigging. (NBC News)
July 9: Special interests approved this nominee. The confirmation process will be powered by massive, secretive spending by their phony front groups. That’s why Brett Kavanaugh must convince me he can actually be independent. I, along with the American people, will not tolerate a rigged system anymore. (senate.gov)