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'Prescreened' or Smokescreen? Dems Threaten to Sue Nat'l Archives for Kavanaugh Records

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WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats say they're getting ready to sue the National Archives for access to more of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's records, including some documents from his time as White House staff secretary for President George W. Bush.

"The American people deserve a methodical and thorough examination of a nominee to the Supreme Court who will yield immense influence on their lives," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told reporters Thursday.

Republicans say the Senate has already received about 250,000 pages of documents from Kavanaugh's time in the Bush administration.

Democratic critics, however, are not satisfied.

"The small percentage of documents the Judiciary Committee will get to see are being pre-screened by a Republican operative," Schumer charged.

The party has already filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Archives in hopes of finding information they can use to block Kavanaugh's confirmation.

"Kavanaugh has said so many things about limiting presidential power and holding presidents accountable. So it matters what Brett Kavanaugh thinks about this because this case may come before the Supreme Court relatively soon," Schumer said.

Meanwhile, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) dismissed the notion that the documents have been "prescreened," suggesting the Democrats' latest actions are just a smokescreen.

"Unfortunately, some have tried to criticize what is the most transparent confirmation process in history," Grassley said. "But they're failing. And they're failing because Democratic leaders have made their true goal obvious: Stall the confirmation as long as possible."

Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing begins Sept. 4.

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