Doug Jones says SCOTUS confirmation hearing unfair, should have been delayed

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Doug Jones
Sen. Doug Jones leaves a meeting with fellow Democrats just before a procedural vote aimed at reopening the government, at the Capitol in Washington. [Photo Credit: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File]

Sen. Doug Jones is facing mounting pressure from his constituents to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, yet on Wednesday Alabama’s newly elected Senator said he thinks the hearings should have been delayed.

Jones, like many of his Democratic colleagues, think the delay is necessary due to the more than 42,000 pages of documents that were sent to the Judiciary Committee late Monday from Kavanaugh’s tenure in the George W. Bush White House.

“As I’ve said before, it’s regrettable that Supreme Court nominations have become the subject of such partisan bickering, which was on full display at the hearing today,” Jones said in a statement via WHNT. “I am very concerned that a significant amount of Judge Kavanaugh’s record has been withheld from the U.S. Senate and the American public.

He continued, “This hearing should have been delayed in order to gather and review all of the facts—rather than hide them—and approach this process with the thoroughness and transparency that it demands. This is a lifetime appointment to the highest court in our land; it is not a decision that should be rushed. The process as it is playing out right now is not fair to the nominee, the Court, the Senate, or the American people.”

But Republican’s are pushing back against the left’s assertions

“Helpful reminder: Democrats didn’t show up to see sensitive documents that were made available to them, the idea the hearing should be delayed because they haven’t read material is quite laughable,” tweeted Sen. Orrin Hatch‘s office.

Hatch’s office continued to set the record straight, tweeting the process has not been rushed.

Myth: “this has been rushed.”

Fact: that’s nonsense, this has been an appropriately paced, deliberate process.

Kavanaugh was nominated 64 days ago

✅ Sotomayor was confirmed in 66 days
✅ Roberts in 23 days
✅ Kennedy in 65 days
✅ Ginsburg in 42 days#KavanaughConfirmation

Not the first time he’s asked for a delay

This is not the first times Jones had said the hearings should have been delayed. On Aug. 25, Jones called for the Senate to hit the “pause button” on confirmation hearings in order to review his voluminous record.

The Alabama Democrat said his chief concern was having time to see the full documents from Kavanaugh’s past work, including his time on Bush’s staff, which were just released this week.

Jones has yet to say how he’ll vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation. He has previously said he plans to meet with him following the confirmation hearings.