Interest groups put pressure on senators before Kavanaugh's vote

But the Conservative defense groups rely on these three senators to vote in favor of Justice Kavanaugh, just as they voted for Judge Neil M. Gorsuch last year. The Judicial Crisis Network is running a $ 600,000 advertising campaign to pressure the three parties to announce their opposition, said Carrie Severino, Senior Advisor and Director of Policy.

"We know that Senator Schumer has asked them not to show up in one way or another as long as possible," she said, referring to Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. , the Democratic leader. "But we think they now have a good opportunity to hear Judge Kavanaugh, and they should be quick to get things done just to help Senator Schumer's electoral plans."

In Alaska, a key constituency of Mrs. Murkowski – Alaska Natives – lobbied the Senator to oppose Kavanaugh's confirmation, flying to Washington and sending letters listing a series of concerns. The Native Federation of Alaska, the largest indigenous organization nationwide, will meet with Ms. Murkowski on Wednesday.

The issue was raised at the judge's confirmation hearings by Senator Mazie Hirono, Democrat of Hawaii, who issued previously secret e-mails in which Mr. Kavanaugh questioned Native Hawaiians as a protected group. Ms. Hirono also introduced it on a separate article published in the Wall Street Journal in 1999 titled "Hawaiian Indians? The Justice Department thinks so, "in which the candidate has declared his opposition to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

These comments left the Alaska Natives very worried.

"We see ourselves as being in solidarity with our native Hawaiian brothers and sisters," said Richard J. Peterson, president of the Tlingit and Haida Indian tribes. "The fact that he questions their validity tells us that he will do the same with us."

Peterson, who wrote a letter on behalf of his tribe to Murkowski asking him to oppose the confirmation, said the more than 30,000 voters he represented represented "the general feeling". But when it comes to Mr. Kavanaugh's appointment, he said, "We have serious concerns."

At the top of the list of concerns of many Alaska Native people, there is the way Mr. Kavanaugh would decide to go to the Supreme Court to jeopardize the federal protections guaranteeing subsistence fishing rights for aboriginals in Alaska. Alaska.