Alabama Republican Party Chairman Terry Lathan said Friday that U.S. Senator Doug Jones, D-Alabama, decision to vote no on the confirmation of Brett M. Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court is a betrayal of the state of Alabama.
“The Alabama Republican Party thanks Senator Richard Shelby for representing our state and committing to cast a YES vote to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court,” Chairman Lathan said.
“Senator Doug Jones has now said he will vote NO on the confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court,” Chairman Lathan continued. “His NO vote betrays our state and his actions highlight his disingenuous promise to represent the majority of Alabamians. After siding against Alabamians and President Trump, Senator Jones is now firmly in the Schumer/Feinstein/Warren/Sanders column. With his experience as an attorney, it is shocking that he is willing to betray the right of due process. This ‘seek and destroy’ hijacking of one of the most qualified court nominees in our lifetime is an abomination to our nation’s most fundamental principles of fairness.”
Jones had been demanding a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation of allegations by Christine Blasey Ford that a drunken Kavanaugh groped her and tried to remove her swimsuit at a party in 1982 when both of them were still in high school. Kavanaugh strongly denies the allegation that he ever groped Ms. Ford as does Mark Judge whom Ford claims was also in the room with them at the time. After committing to vote for the Kavanaugh nomination, retiring U.S. Senator Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, made his vote in favor of advancing Kavanaugh’s confirmation out of the Senate Judiciary Committee contingent on the FBI investigating Ms. Ford’s allegations. Sen. Jones however had already committed to vote NO on the Kavanaugh confirmation, even though there is no physical evidence to support Ms. Ford’s allegations.
“After his repeated NO votes, Senator Jones is now a full-fledged member of the ‘Never Trump’ resistance. Alabama will not forget his betrayal,” Chairman Lathan added. “Senator Doug Jones’ days in the United States Senate are numbered. Anyone who experiences an assault should be taken seriously. All avenues should be exhausted to help a victim and to find the truth pertinent to each individual situation. It is clear Dr. Ford suffered from a traumatic event in her youth, and like Judge Kavanaugh’s daughter, we should pray for her to receive strength, peace and healing. Nevertheless, there was no case made that Brett Kavanaugh was involved in her incident. Actually, the opposite happened as witnesses she named refuted her story and Kavanaugh convincingly denies it.”
“The one thing we are confident of is this: Senator Doug Jones’ nameplate on his office door in the halls of the United States Senate will be replaced by Alabamians in 2020,” Lathan concluded.
Jones Senate seat had been comfortably held by the very popular Jeff Sessions since 1996 until President Donald J. Trump (R) appointed him U.S. Attorney General. Then Alabama Governor Robert Bentley (R) made the controversial decision to appoint Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange (R) to the Senate seat, even though Strange was then investigating Gov. Bentley. Ultra-conservative former Chief Justice Roy Moore (R) then bested Strange in the GOP primary runoff. The Washington Post then brought forward heretofore allegations that Moore had acted inappropriately with several young women in the 1970s. Jones then narrowly defeated Moore on December 12, 2017 to take the Senate seat and possibly becoming the swing vote on Kavanaugh’s fate.
Republicans accuse Senate Democrats of orchestrating a character assassination effort against Kavanaugh to block Pres. Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court. The Republicans have a narrow 51 to 49 majority in the U.S. Senate. A vote on Kavanaugh could come as early as Thursday once the FBI investigation is complete.
Doug Jones is up for re-election in 2020. Several Republican candidates appear to be jockeying for the position as the GOP nominee.
