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WASHINGTON, D.C.–  Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee moved the committee vote on the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to fill the vacant seat on the United States Supreme Court to September 20, 2018. Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law released the following statement after Senate Judiciary leadership voted down motions to subpoena the 100,000 documents withheld by The Trump White House relating to Kavanaugh‘s records from the Bush White House on the basis of presidential privilege.

“We are witnessing the Senate surrender their obligation to provide advice and consent by racing forward with the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh while more than 90% of his White House records remain outstanding. Never before have we seen the sweeping use of “executive privilege” and unnecessary ‘Committee Confidential’ designations invoked solely to keep the Senators and the public in the dark on the full record of a nominee.

“The chaos now ensuing between a legislative branch that has outsourced its obligation to provide advice and consent to the executive branch in ways that could cause irreversible harm to the judicial branch makes clear that we are in a state of constitutional crisis. This nominee, if he goes forward, under these objectionable circumstances, would sit on our nation’s highest Court with a cloud of illegitimacy looming over him during his tenure.

“The Senate can cure this by taking action now by slowing down, waiting for his record and bringing transparency to this dark process.”