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Elizabeth Warren Has A Plan For What Happens Now That Kavanaugh's Been Confirmed

by Morgan Brinlee
Astrid Riecken/Getty Images News/Getty Images

At least one vocal opponent of President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee has already begun to plan for the aftermath of his confirmation. Just hours before the Senate was expected to vote on Brett M. Kavanaugh's nomination, Sen. Elizabeth Warren shared her post-Kavanaugh action plan while speaking to anti-Kavanaugh protesters outside of the Supreme Court on Saturday.

"I'm about to go vote against Brett Kavanaugh," the senator wrote in a tweet sharing video of her comments outside the Supreme Court on Saturday. "But first, I want to tell everyone who fought with us what comes next."

Speaking to protesters outside of the Supreme Court, Warren acknowledged that Kavanaugh's then-expected confirmation would be a painful development for many. "What the United States Senate is about to do hurts," she said. "It hurts every survivor of sexual assault who has been ignored... every woman who has been told to sit down and shut up... every person who will be on the losing end of a Kavanaugh swing vote against them and in favor of states that keep American citizens from voting, in favor of corporations that cheat consumers, in favor of gun traffickers that put our children at risk. This hurts, but I want to be clear; I am not sorry I got in this fight."

Warren went on to remind the crowd what they had accomplished in opposing Kavanaugh's confirmation and standing with the women who have accused him of sexual misconduct and assault. "We have called out men of privilege and power who protect other men of privilege and power," she said. "We have lifted the voices of millions of survivors of sexual assault. We have refused to be the women who sit down and shut up and we have forged the bond that will make us stronger in the next fight."

The Massachusetts senator then argued that Senate Republicans' push to confirm Kavanaugh to a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court boiled down to a battle for power.

"Make no mistake, this is about power," Warren said. "The people who have power and the people who intend that no one else will get that power." But while this battle, at least, appeared to be lost, Warren implied the war was far from over and argued "now is the time to turn our hurt into power."

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"So, I got a plan. Right now I call it a 30-day plan," Warren went on to say, her plan's tentative title evoking laughs from the crowd for its not-so-subtle reference to the Nov. 6 midterm elections.

Warren's plan included action points such as "show 'em what matters," "take back the Senate," take back the House," "vote Democrat up and down," and "return power to the people where it belongs."

Kavanaugh's Senate confirmation hearings may have reportedly given Warren something to think about. The Massachusetts senator recently told constituents at a town hall in Holyoke that she would "take a hard look at running for president" after the midterm elections. According to CBS News, it was the first time Warren had publicly said she was even considering running in the 2020 presidential election.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit online.rainn.org.

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