U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill says she intends on asking Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh about campaign finance, health care and corporate consolidation when she meets with him Tuesday.
McCaskill said the high court’s 2010 Citizens United decision has led to a flood of spending from outside groups, ones that may spend tens of millions of dollars ahead of the November midterm, when she is up for re-election.
“It’s absolutely out of control. I’ve said many times, if Missourians knew who was paying for the ads against me, they would like the enemies I’ve made,” McCaskill told reporters earlier this month. “And it doesn’t matter if it’s for me or against me, if you don’t know who’s paying for it, you shouldn’t pay any attention to it.”
McCaskill said she also wants to know where Kavanaugh, an appeals court judge in Washington, D.C., stands on the federal health care law, specifically whether certain provisions should be overturned in the courts or in Congress.
President Donald Trump had overwhelming support in Missouri when he was elected in 2016, as did her opponent in this year’s Senate race, Republican Attorney General Josh Hawley.
Hawley has made Kavanaugh’s nomination a campaign issue.
“She ought to be voting for him,’’ Hawley told St. Louis Public Radio. “She ought to be challenging her party to vote for him and give him a fair hearing, and stop this delay, delay, delay.”
The Senate is expected to begin hearings on Kavanaugh’s nomination on Sept. 4. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he wants a floor vote before the Nov. 6 election.
Former KCUR news intern Aviva Okeson-Haberman contributed to this report.
Samuel King is the Missouri politics and government reporter at KCUR 89.3. Follow him on Twitter: @SamuelKingNews