Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday accused Democrats of trying to “bork” Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court.
“We have a word for blatantly misrepresenting the record and character of a judicial nominee in order to achieve a political objective. We call it an attempt to bork the nominee,” the Kentucky Republican said during a speech on the Senate floor, The Hill reported.
He then read the definition of “bork,” noting that “Judge Bork’s last name is in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as a verb.”
Congressional Democrats came out in opposition to Kavanaugh, a former federal court of appeals judge who also worked in George W. Bush’s administration, moments after Trump announced his nomination during a prime-time televised event Monday night from the White House.
They believe Kavanaugh, who would replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, will mean overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision legalizing abortion nationwide, eroding the rights of the LGBTQ community and weakening gun laws.
Democrats have also called on McConnell to hold off on a confirmation vote until after the November midterm elections, which the majority leader has refused.
Robert Bork, nominated by President Ronald Reagan to the Supreme Court in 1987, came under intense scrutiny by Democrats who mined his legal writings for evidence of his conservative leanings.
The Senate rejected his confirmation 58-42.