Republicans threaten senator over release

WASHINGTON — Senators reviewing President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh clashed bitterly Thursday morning over whether emails and documents related to the candidate’s views on race, affirmative action and abortion have been improperly withheld from public view.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) released several of the documents in question, which had been marked “committee confidential,” meaning they were not to be shared publicly.

Republicans immediately accused Booker of violating Senate rules. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) called Booker’s conduct “unbecoming,” and said that the violations could result in punishment or even removal from the Senate.

“Bring it,” Booker responded.

He and other Democrats said that the emails should never have been restricted in the first place since they had nothing to do with personal information or national security.

In one 2001 email, Kavanaugh, then working in the George W. Bush White House, refers to some Transportation Department regulations to assist minorities as a “naked racial set-aside.”

In another 2003 email, Kavanaugh questions whether legal scholars would agree that the landmark abortion ruling in Roe vs. Wade is viewed as “settled law,” noting that the precedent could be overturned with a majority of justices.

The fight over documents related to Kavanaugh’s past record in Washington has been raging for weeks. Democrats say hundreds of thousands of documents have been withheld and that they need more time to review those that have been released.