First set of Kavanaugh papers released
Democrats say GOP is ‘cherry-picking,’ breaking tradition
WASHINGTON — The first documents from Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s time in George W. Bush’s White House were released Thursday as the Senate begins to review the judge’s unusually lengthy public record for confirmation hearings this fall.
The 5,700 pages from Kavanaugh’s time in the
White House counsel’s office, a slim fraction of those available, were posted on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s website after being compiled by a lawyer representing the former president as part of the GOP’s expedited review process.
But Democrats and others scrutinizing President Donald Trump’s nominee quickly cried foul, saying Republicans are “cherrypicking” from the initial cache of 125,000 Bush documents and skirting traditional procedures.
Kavanaugh’s five years working for Bush, as a White House counsel and
the staff secretary, are the subject of a fierce dispute between Senate Republicans and Democrats about the scope of documents being made available. The battle over the paper trail has come to dominate the debate over confirming the 53-year-old appellate judge to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Democrats complain
that Bush’s lawyer has been able to selectively review and release the White House documents without full oversight from the National Archives and Records Administration.
The first download of thousands of papers Thursday is being pored over by activists and media organizations for insight into Kavanaugh’s legal thinking. But it’s unclear how revealing the papers will be. One of the initial pages was a discussion of lunch plans.
The records cast light on Kavanaugh’s role when he served in the White House counsel’s office.