Rand Paul announces support for Kavanaugh

GOP Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) on Monday said that he will support President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

“After meeting Judge Kavanaugh and reviewing his record, I have decided to support his nomination,” Paul said in a statement.

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He added that while no one will “ever completely agree with a nominee,” they “must be judged on the totality of their views, character, and opinions.”

Paul, who previously described himself as “honestly undecided,” has remained tight-lipped since his meeting with Kavanaugh last week, which lasted for more than an hour.

But a person familiar with the discussions previously told The Hill that Paul raised concerns about Kavanaugh as Trump was weighing who to select to succeed Justice Anthony Kennedy. 

And Paul was widely considered a potential swing vote because of his positions on the Fourth Amendment, which established the constitutional right to privacy.

“I have expressed my concern over Judge Kavanaugh’s record on warrantless bulk collection of data and how that might apply to very important privacy cases before the Supreme Court,” Paul said on Monday. 

He added he hoped Kavanaugh would be “more open” to protections on digital records and property in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling that found, in most cases, law enforcement has to obtain a warrant in order to search and seize long-term cell phone records that would show a person’s location.  

“Of course, my vote is not a single-issue vote, and much of my reading and conversation has been in trying to figure out exactly how good Judge Kavanaugh will be on other issues before the Court,” Paul added. 

Democrats had also hoped that Kavanaugh’s work in the Bush administration could be used to sway Paul, who has previously broken with his parties on issues like surveillance and torture. 

But senators in both parties were skeptical that Paul would ultimately be willing to buck Trump, whom he has worked to cultivate a relationship with, and cast the deciding vote against his Supreme Court pick.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) called Paul a “perennial tease.”

“They get a lot of press attention but rarely, if ever, will break from their party,” Durbin told The Hill when asked about the chances that Paul would vote against Kavanaugh.

Trump thanked Paul in a tweet early Monday evening, saying the senator’s affirmative vote “means a lot to me, and to everyone who loves our Country!”

Thank you to @RandPaul for your YES on a future great Justice of the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh. Your vote means a lot to me, and to everyone who loves our Country!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2018

The president and the Kentucky senator have had a friendly relationship of late, with Paul defending Trump against criticism for his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Paul had previously threatened to vote against Mike Pompeo’s secretary of State nomination before reversing course minutes before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was scheduled to hold a vote.

With Paul’s decision to support Kavanaugh, the already uphill path for Democrats to block his nomination gets even narrower.

Republicans nixed the 60-vote procedural threshold for Supreme Court nominees last year, meaning Democrats can’t stop Trump’s pick on their own.

Republicans have a 51-49 advantage in the Upper Chamber, but it is unknown if ailing Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) would be able to make a vote, meaning if all the Democrats vote against confirmation, they would need at least one Republican to join them to block Kavanaugh.

Democratic leadership is hoping to replicate the strategy they used last year to successfully block ObamaCare repeal legislation by keeping their caucus united and focusing on one or two GOP senators. With Paul supporting Kavanaugh, the pressure will intensify on GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska). 

But Democrats could face challenges in keeping their own caucus united.

Three Democrats vulnerable in the midterms — Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.) and Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) — previously voted for Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee. 

Manchin is scheduled to meet with Kavanaugh on Monday afternoon, marking his first known meeting with a Democratic senator.

—Updated at 6:58 p.m.