Hard Partisan Divide Over Trump's Supreme Court Pick
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- President Donald Trump's pick for the Supreme Court began meeting with lawmakers Tuesday.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh started with Republican leaders.
Vice President Mike Pence escorted the 53-year-old Yale graduate and appeals court judge on Capitol Hill.
The confirmation process is expected to begin over the next few weeks.
Kavanaugh is a favorite of the GOP establishment.
Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith both have serious concerns about the president's Supreme Court pick.
Appearing with fellow Democratic Senators in Washington, Klobuchar said Kavanaugh has a long judicial record of questionable rulings.
"About who you can marry, about where you can work, about if you can vote, and in the case of my grandpa who worked 1,500 feet underground in the mines his whole life, about if his workplace was safe," she said. "And I wouldn't be here without those kinds of court rulings."
Republicans are calling for Kavanaugh's quick confirmation.
But Democrats say it's much too fast, describing Kavanaugh as the choice of the "far right."
"This is a pivotal moment in our country," Smith said. "The person who fills this seat long held by Justice Kennedy will shape the course of American Democracy for decades."
In Minnesota, Smith's endorsed Republican challenger Karin Housley said Smith "is in lockstep with the radical, left-wing brand of Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren."
And Klobuchar's endorsed opponent called her an "obstructionist."
"Sen. Klobuchar has a habit of portraying herself as a moderate. She's not a moderate," Republican Jim Newberger said. "She has voted over 90 percent of her career with the extreme progressive left."
If Minnesota Democrats vote no on Kavanaugh, the state's top Republican says it will hurt Democrats at the polls.
"If the Senate Democrats out of Minnesota, Sen. Klobuchar and Sen. Smith, stand in the way of this and obstruct and play partisan politics and don't do what's in the best interest of the country, I think this will negatively impact," said Jennifer Carnahan, the chair of the Minnesota Republican Party.
The Senate is controlled by Republicans, 51-49. The vote on Kavanaugh's confirmation is expected by October, putting it front and center for most of the midterm elections.