Politics

Cory Booker Calls Heitkamp’s ‘No’ Vote On Kavanaugh Her ‘Martin Luther Moment’

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Amber Athey Podcast Columnist
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New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker compared his Democratic colleague to Protestant Reformation leader Martin Luther because she voted “no” on Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.

North Dakota Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp revealed after a long deliberation that she was going to vote “no” on Kavanaugh because of the sexual assault allegations lobbied against him.

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 11: U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) (L) speaks as Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) (R) listens during a news briefing after the weekly Senate Democratic Policy Luncheon July 11, 2017 at the Capitol in Washington, DC. Sen. Schumer discussed various topics including Senate's delaying its recess to the third week of August. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 11: U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) (L) speaks as Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) (R) listens during a news briefing after the weekly Senate Democratic Policy Luncheon July 11, 2017 at the Capitol in Washington, DC. Sen. Schumer discussed various topics including Senate’s delaying its recess to the third week of August. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Booker, who also voted against Kavanaugh, recalled in an interview with Rolling Stone the moment that Heitkamp told her colleagues about her decision. (RELATED: Sen. Heidi Heitkamp In Hot Water After Sharing WWII Vet’s Personal Info.)

Booker said:

There must have been 12 of us, maybe 14 of us, down in that SCIF, trading this piece of paper around … We’re reading, and she looks up and says to all of us, ‘I just can’t vote for this person.’ To me, it was a Martin Luther moment, where Martin Luther, after pounding his defiant words on a church door … Martin Luther, he writes, ‘Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me god.’ I felt that was what I was witnessing.

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 09: Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee's Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights Subcommittee December 9, 2014 in Washington, DC. The subcommittee heard testimony on the topic of "The State of Civil and Human Rights in the United States."

WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 09: Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights Subcommittee December 9, 2014 in Washington, DC. The subcommittee heard testimony on the topic of “The State of Civil and Human Rights in the United States.”
(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

The comparison was a callback to when Booker referred to himself as “Spartacus” when he threatened to release classified documents during hearings on Kavanaugh.

“I’m saying I’m knowingly violating the rules,” Booker asserted, calling it his “Spartacus moment.” “I’m saying right now that I’m releasing committee confidential documents.”

Fellow New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand called Heitkamp a “feminist icon” in the Rolling Stone article.

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