Senators question Kavanaugh

Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh was before the Senate Judiciary Committee for the second day of his Supreme Court confirmation hearing Wednesday, where he is defending his judicial independence amid questions over how he would treat U.S. President Donald Trump on the high court.

Senators have pressed Kavanaugh on guns, abortion and regulation, as well as some questions over purloined emails. Each senator had 30 minutes to interrogate Kavanaugh.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy put the question of whether President Donald Trump could pardon himself directly to Kavanaugh.

But if Leahy thought he was going to get a direct answer to the direct question, he was mistaken.

“The question of self-pardons is something I’ve never analyzed,” Kavanaugh said, adding: “I can’t begin to answer in this context as a sitting judge and a nominee to the Supreme Court.”

Leahy pressed anyway, asking whether the president could pardon associates to keep them from testifying against him. Again, Kavanaugh dodged the question, saying that as a judge, he would normally receive briefs and arguments from both sides before coming to a conclusion.

“I’m not going to answer hypothetical questions of that sort,” he said.

In another exchange, Kavanaugh refused to say whether he would rule the Constitution permits a sitting president to be subpoenaed for testimony.