By replacing retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy with Donald Trump’s nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, the United States Senate could well set back civil rights, voting rights, workers’ rights, access to healthcare, reproductive rights, and civil liberties for decades. But one of his biggest Senate supporters thinks colleagues should overlook all of that because he finds Kavanaugh to be personally charming.

On Fox & Friends on Thursday, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) largely ignored Kavanaugh’s arch-conservative ideology, his judicial record, and his work as a key adviser to former president George W. Bush, instead arguing that the nomination should be quickly confirmed because Kavanaugh loves his daughters.

“Just a really nice guy, a decent person, a person of integrity, a judge,” Johnson answered when asked to describe his meeting with the nominee. “You have to see his eyes light up when he talks about his daughters, coaching their basketball team.”

Johnson then noted that he had spent his time interviewing Kavanaugh for a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court by asking about his mentoring “his daughter’s friend” who had lost her father to ALS .


“He is just such a nice person. I don’t see how anybody could oppose his nomination.” Johnson then dismissed requests by Democrats to be able to examine Kavanaugh’s White House writings before voting on the nomination, saying this is unnecessary given that he has been a judge for 12 years and is affable.

“You know Democrats have a dozen years of experience, are they looking for his fourth grade essays? They have more than enough information to make a decision. This should be 100 to 0, in terms of the vote.”

Brett Kavanaugh is an incredibly nice guy. That's the point. The entire point of Brett Kavanaugh is that he is extraordinarily generous to the people around him. It's all the people who aren't around him that are cut out of the bargain. — Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) July 14, 2018

In 2016, Johnson helped block the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, despite having had a “very cordial” meeting with the Obama nominee. He also routinely opposed other Obama judicial nominees without regard for whether they were nice people.