Trump says Kavanaugh was ‘proven innocent’
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump used a ceremonial swearing-in of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh Monday night to apologize for the “pain and suffering” the president said his nominee endured during his contentious Senate confirmation.
“What happened to the Kavanaugh family violates every notion of fairness, decency and due
process,” Trump said during an East Room ceremony. “You, sir, under historic scrutiny, were proven innocent.”
With the other eight Supreme Court justices sitting in the front row of the White House’s East Room, Trump said he thought his second nominee to the court deserved better than the “terrible pain and suffering you have been forced to endure.” He did not directly mention the allegations of sexual assault that stalled Kavanaugh’s confirmation for weeks.
For his part, Kavanaugh said he would assume the role “with gratitude and no bitterness.”
“The Senate confirmation process was contentious and emotional,” Kavanaugh said. “That process is over. My focus now is to be the best justice be.”
The new justice did not directly mention the controversy surrounding his nomination, but he alluded to charges that the court has emerged from his confirmation process more partisan than ever before.
“The Supreme Court is an institution of law. It is not a partisan or political institution, and the justices do not sit on opposite sides of the aisle,” he said. He pledged to be “an independent and impartial justice.”
Having endured a trial by fire for three months as Trump’s very controversial nominee, the 53-year-old Supreme Court justice won’t have as much trouble blending into what he has
I can termed the “team of nine.”
Kavanaugh will be on the bench for the second week of the court’s 2018 term, having missed six oral arguments. His appearance follows a whirlwind weekend in which he was confirmed by the Senate, sworn in, hired law clerks and assembled his high court chambers.
The nomination process began with disputes over Kavanaugh’s long paper trail from his years in President George W. Bush’s White House, much of which was withheld from the senators considering his confirmation. It ended with fireworks over sensational allegations of sexual assault as a high school teenager, which he denied and which were never corroborated but nearly sank his chances for a lifetime appointment.
Kavanaugh went straight to work Sunday after the Senate’s 50-48 confirmation vote Saturday afternoon, one of the narrowest in history. He inherited Associate Justice Samuel Alito’s chambers after Alito switched into retired associate justice Anthony Kennedy’s old digs.
Kavanaugh kept to his word by bringing with him the high court’s first allfemale group of law clerks. One of his major efforts over 12 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit had been to mentor and promote female clerks. His new team includes Kim Jackson, Sara Nommensen, Shannon Grammel and Megan Lacy.
Although Kavanaugh was sworn in privately Saturday evening by Chief Justice John Roberts and Kennedy, for whom he clerked 25 years ago, the White House wanted to hold a public ceremony.
Kennedy performed the honors again, after Trump lauded his 30 years of service and noted that it marked the first time a retired justice had ever sworn in one of his former law clerks to inherit his seat.