PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley is suing to block the Senate from voting on the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
Merkley, a Democrat, contends the Trump administration has interfered with the Senate's ability to provide advice and consent by withholding documents from Kavanaugh's tenure working in White House under President George W. Bush.
“The President and Mitch McConnell want to ram through this nomination come hell or high water, without real advice or informed consent by the Senate, but that’s just not how our Constitution works," Merkley said in the statement.
Merkley wants a federal judge in the nation's capital to intervene and prevent the confirmation vote until Kavanaugh's full record is available for public scrutiny.
The Trump administration cited executive privilege in withholding about 100,000 pages of documents from Kavanaugh's time as legal counsel. The administration, saying that disclosure of deliberations and advice would jeopardize a president's ability to carry out their core constitutional duties.
GOP leaders set a Senate Judiciary Committee vote for Friday and hoped to confirm Kavanaugh early next week. That's even as Thursday's showdown hearing approaches.
MORE: Read the lawsuit here
