Kavanaugh’s role in debate an issue
Dems demand files for specifics of 2006 detainee policy discussions
WASHINGTON — Brett Kavanaugh was adamant as he sat in the witness chair at his 2006 confirmation hearing to be an appeals court judge. Kavanaugh was being questioned by Democrats about his knowledge of President George W. Bush’s torture policy and treatment of detainees while he served as associate White House counsel.
He responded that he was “not involved” in “questions about the rules governing detention of combatants.”
Senate Democrats have never fully accepted Kavanaugh’s answers to questions about one of the Bush administration’s most controversial policies, and now they are prepared to resurrect the issue as Kavanaugh faces a hearing as President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., whose questions in 2006 elicited Kavanaugh’s denial, said in an interview this week that “what he told us under oath is not accurate.”
Democrats are demanding Bush White House files to pin down specifics of any Kavanaugh involvement in detainee policy discussions, which could slow down the Trump administration’s hope to have Kavanaugh confirmed before the Supreme Court reconvenes on Oct. 1.
Kavanaugh was involved in at least one contentious meeting at the White House Counsel’s Office in 2002, and two former White House officials detailed his role in interviews this week with The Washington Post. Bush was then developing his policy on detention and interrogation of terrorism suspects, and Kavanaugh was asked to interpret an important question about how the detainee policy was likely to be viewed in a Supreme Court challenge, specifically by Justice Anthony Kennedy, for whom he had served as a clerk.
Kavanaugh weighed in on how he thought Kennedy would vote on whether certain detainees should be denied a chance to be heard and have legal counsel, according to the other participants.
Kavanaugh had already been confirmed for the circuit court when the White House meeting became public in a Post report.