State Sen. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) speaks to a Democratic caucus in Oakland on July 14. (Los Angeles Times)

As he challenges incumbent Democrat Dianne Feinstein for a seat in the U.S. Senate, state Sen. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) has made resisting the Trump administration a centerpiece of his campaign. A good illustration is his take-no-prisoners approach to President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. Feinstein isn’t doing enough to try to block the appointment, De Leon says, arguing that Democrats should go so far as to shut down the Senate.

OK, so what’s the endgame there? As members of the minority party, the only tools at Senate Democrats’ disposal where nominees are concerned are dilatory ones. They can use the filibuster to kill most types of legislation, but not nominations — thanks in large part to their own shortsighted decision in 2013 to forbid filibusters on almost all nominees. (The only exception was Supreme Court justices, but Republicans predictably removed that barrier after Trump took office.)

The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled Kavanaugh’s hearing for Sept. 4, and assuming he clears that hurdle, the only thing that can stop him from being confirmed is Republicans. Sure, Democrats could threaten to filibuster the spending bills necessary to keep the federal government operating on all cylinders after Oct. 1, but the GOP may have Kavanaugh confirmed by then. And even if it doesn’t, partially shutting down the government over Kavanaugh A) won’t stop the Senate from voting on his nomination, and B) isn’t likely to win much support from a public that does not like government shutdowns.