What Cardin and Van Hollen Said Thursday About the Ford-Kavanaugh Hearing

Scores of Maryland politicians were burning up social media Thursday on the extraordinary Senate Judiciary Committee hearing feature Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee to fill a Supreme Court vacancy, and Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who accuses him of sexually assaulting her in 1982. Among those weighing in: Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R), who just a month ago suggested that he didn’t need to express an opinion about Kavanaugh because, as a governor, it wasn’t his responsibility. “Governors don’t have anything to do with the Supreme Court.” he told The New York Times at the time. Yet on Thursday, Hogan was one of four Republican governors urging the Senate to delay its confirmation vote. Govs. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, John Kasich of Ohio and Phil Scott of Vermont were the others.  Hogan’s Democratic challenger, former NAACP president Benjamin T. Jealous, suggested the governor’s statement didn’t go far enough. “Delay? We need to be DONE with #Kavanaugh,” Jealous tweeted. “He should not be confirmed. Period.” But in the end, the only two voices that matter in Maryland belong to U.S. Sens. Benjamin L. Cardin (D) and Chris Van Hollen (D) — assuming Kavanaugh’s nomination hits the Senate floor. Neither serves on the Judiciary Committee, which is scheduled to consider the nomination Friday morning. Both will vote no. Here’s what they said Thursday on Twitter. “Republicans’ righteous indignation over how @JudiciaryDems handled Dr. Ford’s allegations completely misses the point,” Cardin tweeted. “The question isn’t whether we agree on process. Clearly, we don’t.

“The question is whether we believe Dr. Ford.

“Clearly, they don’t. #KavanaughHearings.” Among other things, Van Hollen tweeted a picture of him meeting with protesters from Maryland who had come to Capitol Hill to support Blasey Ford. “Thank you to all the Marylanders who have come down to the Senate today to stand in solidarity with Dr. Ford,” Van Hollen wrote. “The support you are providing sends a strong message to victims of sexual assault: you are not alone and we will have your back.” Late Thursday night, Van Hollen added, “Today we heard the powerful, courageous, and credible testimony of Dr. Ford. Judge Kavanaugh called it all ‘an orchestrated political hit’ as if her awful experience was manufactured by Democrats. But he refused to call for an FBI investigation. Stop the politics—cancel the vote.”

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