*By Carlo Versano*
Day one of Brett Kavanaugh's Senate confirmation hearings got off to a raucous start Tuesday: protesters interrupted the proceedings, Democrats called for an adjournment, and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said he'd never before seen a hearing "led by mob rule."
It took seven hours before the nominee could deliver his opening statement.
The tactics, while good fodder for television, are unlikely to be very effective for Democrats, said Erin Delmore, a senior political correspondent for Bustle. They also reveal the level of Democrats' desperation, she said Tuesday in an interview on Cheddar.
"It does show you how weak their hand is here," she said.
Democrats, in a futile effort to delay the hearing, were responding to growing frustrations from their base that the party has not been vocal enough in protesting the successor to Anthony Kennedy. If Kavanaugh, a staunch Republican, is confirmed, he may well tilt the court's ideology right-ward for at least a generation, as he'd replace a man who often acted as a swing vote on landmark decisions.
Justice Kennedy authored the majority opinions for [*Lawrence v. Texas*](https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/539/558/), which lifted the state's ban on sodomy, and 2013's [*Windsor v. U.S.*](http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/windsor-v-united-states-2/), the landmark decision that granted same-sex couples the right to marry in certain states.
The ever-polarizing *Roe v. Wade* is among the cases Kavanaugh's vote could turn. He has been asked about where he stands on choice by several moderate female senators, including Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who both said Kavanaugh told them he considered Roe to be "settled law."
The key question is, "does he believe *Roe v. Wade* was settled correctly," said Delmore. That's one interrogative he's unlikely to answer in this hearing.
"If \[Collins and Murkowski\] seem like this is enough for them, then this is over," Delmore said, referring to the chance that Kavanaugh could not be confirmed.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/the-women-who-will-determine-brett-kavanaughs-fate).
The inventor of the nasal spray that can reverse an opioid overdose believes the $570 million judgment against Johnson & Johnson shows that states are taking the crisis "seriously."
On the back of a groundbreaking partnership with data heavyweights Deloitte and Nielsen, cannabis industry intelligence company Headset on Monday announced the launch of its real time analytics tool in the province of Alberta, marking its official debut in the Canadian market. Stakeholders anticipate the data Headset Insights generates ー first in Alberta, and eventually across all of Canada ー will serve as a road map for companies outside of cannabis looking to penetrate the industry, and for Canadian cannabis companies as the market grows more diverse and competitive.
An Oklahoma judge ruled that Johnson & Johnson pay over $570 million in damages — a far cry from the $17 billion requested — for causing the opioid crisis in the Sooner state.
The U.S. president reiterated his position that Russia should be invited back into the coalition of the world's largest economies despite the lingering issue of Russia's occupation of Ukrainian territory.
Speaking from the G7 summit in Biarritz, France, Trump said that Chinese negotiators had called U.S. officials and requested a new round of talks.
Gravy Analytics, a location-based marketing technology company, analyzed the smartphone data of people who attended the 111 solo Democratic presidential candidate events held in June and July.
The trade war between the U.S. and China escalated throughout the day Friday, culminating with President Trump announcing that the U.S. will significantly hike tariffs on nearly all Chinese imports. The decision came in response to China proclaiming earlier in the day that it would hit $75 billion worth of U.S. goods with new retaliatory tariffs.
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell on Friday said the U.S. central bank was prepared to take action in the event of a global economic downturn. Powell, however, was tightlipped on whether the Fed would initiate another quarter-point interest rate cut as many investors had hoped.
Read Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's prepared remarks from his speech Friday at the Economic Symposium held in Jackson Hole, Wyo.
