Lines drawn on Kavanaugh
Missing documents spark tussle over high court nominee
WASHINGTON – Brett Kavanaugh got his chance to introduce himself to the American people Tuesday after his nomination to the Supreme Court, but most of the day was spent in angry protests over documents withheld from his lengthy record of public service.
With the most important seat on the high court up for grabs after Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement, Democrats urged that confirmation proceedings be delayed, and three dozen protesters shouting epithets had to be pulled from the hearing room.
The hearing for President Donald Trump’s nominee was so tumultuous at times that Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the second-ranking Senate Republican, labeled it “mob rule” and “unlike anything I’ve seen before in a confirmation hearing.”
Kavanaugh, 53, a federal appeals court judge who worked in the White House for former President George W. Bush and helped investigate President Bill Clinton, sat dispassionately and took notes through more than six hours of speeches from 21 members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. His wife, Ashley, and two daughters sat behind him.
Democrats vented their ire at the withholding of thousands of documents from Kavanaugh’s White House years,
particularly the 35 months he served as Bush’s staff secretary. They noted the White House withheld more than 100,000 pages based on executive privilege, and that 42,000 pages were delivered just Monday night.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the panel’s senior Democrat, said Republicans have “cast aside” the traditional vetting process “in favor of speed.” Democrats sought to postpone the hearing to give them more time to review the documents, with Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., asking Kavanaugh to “step up” and support their request.
“If you are confirmed after this truncated and concealed process, there will always be a taint, there will always be an asterisk,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
Trump didn’t wait for Kavanaugh to deliver his opening statement in the late afternoon before venting about the way his nominee was treated. He called it “a display of how mean, angry and despicable the other side is.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said the committee received 483,000 pages of records from Kavanaugh’s time working in the White House counsel’s office during the Bush administration. About 300,000 pages were posted on the committee’s website for public review, while the remainder were restricted to senators.
“The American people have unprecedented access and more materials to review for Judge Kavanaugh than they ever had for a Supreme Court nominee,” Grassley said in refusing to delay the hearing.
Dozens of people, the majority of them women, stood and shouted their opposition to Kavanaugh throughout the hearing. Most of them said they feared he would change the status quo on abortion, health care, gun rights and other issues likely to come before the court in decades to come.
Of particular concern to Democrats on the panel was the nominee’s evolving views on presidential power. Kavanaugh has said presidents should be exempt from criminal investigations while in office, though he has implied that Congress would have to pass a law to that effect.
“President Trump may have selected you, Judge Kavanaugh, with an eye toward protecting himself,” Sen. Chris Coons, DDel. said. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., noted the judge’s name was only added to a list of 25 potential nominees “after the president was in jeopardy.”
When it was finally his turn to speak, Kavanaugh told the committee that he would be “an umpire,” a phrase used by Chief Justice John Roberts when he went before the committee in 2005.
“I don’t decide cases based on personal or policy preferences. I am not a pro-plaintiff or pro-defendant judge. I am not a pro-prosecution or prodefense judge,” Kavanaugh said. “I am a prolaw judge.”
No questions were asked of the nominee Tuesday, but the next two days will feature about 18 hours or more.
If all goes according to Republicans’ plans, the committee will vote later this month – almost surely along straight party lines – to send his nomination to the full Senate in hopes of getting him on the court by the Oct. 1 start of the 2018 term.
More important, however, is making certain nothing stands in Kavanaugh’s way that would delay confirmation beyond the November elections, when Democrats have an outside shot of winning a Senate majority.