Tag: Brett Kavanaugh

Supreme Court fight becomes battle for Kavanaugh’s papers

The following article by Jordain Carney was posted on the Hill website July 29, 2018:

The Senate fight over documents related to President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court is boiling over.

Trump pick Brett Kavanaugh, a circuit judge since 2006 who previously worked for President George W. Bush’s administration and Kenneth Starr’s independent counsel investigation into former President Clinton, has a voluminous paper trail that lawmakers estimate tops a million pages.

Democrats want to see as many of those papers as they can, while Republicans seeking to confirm Kavanaugh before the midterm elections favor a narrower scope.

View the complete article here.

In Their Words: Americans Across The Country Voice Their Opposition

Americans across the country know the truth about Judge Kavanaugh: He would roll back women’s rights, the right to affordable and accessible health care, and would fail to be an independent check on the president. It’s clear why Kavanaugh is already one of the most unpopular Supreme Court nominees in recent history.

Americans agree that Kavanaugh is a threat to Americans’ health care:

“I am concerned about Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, as he has shown hostility to a person’s right to use birth control and to affordable health care. If he were on the Supreme Court, he would most likely try to limit my access to medication and surgeries that I will die without.” – Maine resident

Continue reading “In Their Words: Americans Across The Country Voice Their Opposition”

Meet With Kavanaugh? Not Until There’s a Deal on His Documents, Democrats Say Image

The following article by Sheryl Gay Stolberg was posted on the New York Times website July 23, 2018:

Judge Kavanaugh, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, on Capitol Hill. Credit: Al Drago,The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats are largely giving Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh the brushoff, refusing the customary “courtesy visits” until Republicans agree to turn over voluminous documents from the Supreme Court nominee’s past.

In the two weeks since President Trump nominated him to succeed the retiring Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, Judge Kavanaugh has met with 23 Republicans, and not a single Democrat. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said in an interview Monday that he would not meet with Judge Kavanaugh until the top Republican and the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee reach agreement on what documents should be produced.

And those two senators, Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Dianne Feinstein of California, are still far apart.

View the complete article here.

Supreme Court Nominee Kavanaugh’s Responses Reveal Views

The following article by Todd Ruger was posted on the Roll Call website July 23, 2018:

Questionnaire part of confirmation process

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, right, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, conduct a photo-op in Russell Building before a meeting on July 17. Credit: Tom Williams, CQ Roll Call

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh described his volunteer work, his most important decisions and how President Donald Trump picked him in paperwork submitted as part of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation process.

The questionnaire is a standard part of the confirmation process, and nominees can use it to bolster their case. For instance, Kavanaugh, when asked to list his 10 most important decisions, listed nine cases in which the Supreme Court later agreed with the positions he took as a federal appeals court judge.

Kavanaugh included the 10th case, he said, “because of what it says about anti-discrimination law and American history.” It was his concurring opinion in a 2013 workplace discrimination case, and he told the committee he wrote that “calling someone the n-word, even once, creates a hostile work environment.”

View the complete article here.

Russian firm indicted in special counsel probe cites Kavanaugh decision to argue that charge should be dismissed

The following article by Robert Barnes was posted on the Washington Post website July 20, 2018:

The Post’s Robert Barnes explains some of the factors that could influence whether Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh is confirmed. (Video: Monica Akhtar/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

A Russian company accused by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III of being part of an online operation to disrupt the 2016 presidential campaign is leaning in part on a decision by Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh to argue that the charge against it should be thrown out.

The 2011 decision by Kavanaugh, writing for a three-judge panel, concerned the role that foreign nationals may play in U.S. elections. It upheld a federal law that said foreigners temporarily in the country may not donate money to candidates, contribute to political parties and groups, or spend money advocating for or against candidates. But it did not rule out letting foreigners spend money on independent advocacy campaigns.

Kavanaugh “went out of his way to limit the decision,” said Daniel A. Petalas, a Washington lawyer and former interim general counsel for the Federal Election Commission.

View the complete article here.

NBC/WSJ Poll: Support for Roe v. Wade Hits New High

The following article by Carrie Dann was posted on the NBC News website July 23,2018:

A majority of Republicans — 52 percent — say the Supreme Court decision should not be overturned.

As President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court pick readies for his eventual confirmation hearing, support for the court’s landmark ruling in Roe v. Wade has hit an all-time high.

A new poll from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal finds that 71 percent of American voters believe that the decision, which established a woman’s legal right to an abortion, should not be overturned. Just 23 percent say the ruling should be reversed.

That’s the highest level of support for the decision — and the lowest share of voters who want Roe v. Wade overturned — in the poll’s history dating back to 2005. In 1989, according to Gallup’s survey, 58 percent said they believed it should stay in place while 31 percent disagreed.

View the complete article on the NBC News website here.

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh piled up credit card debt by purchasing Nationals tickets, White House says

The following article by Amy Brittain was posted on the Washington Post website July 11, 2018:

The Post’s Robert Barnes explains some of the factors that could influence whether Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh is confirmed. (Video: Monica Akhtar/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh incurred tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt buying baseball tickets over the past decade and at times reported liabilities that could have exceeded the value of his cash accounts and investment assets, according to a review of Kavanaugh’s financial disclosures and information provided by the White House.

White House spokesman Raj Shah told The Washington Post that Kavanaugh built up the debt by buying Washington Nationals season tickets and tickets for playoff games for himself and a “handful” of friends. Shah said some of the debts were also for home improvements.

In 2016, Kavanaugh reported having between $60,000 and $200,000 in debt accrued over three credit cards and a loan. Each credit card held between $15,000 and $50,000 in debt, and a Thrift Savings Plan loan was between $15,000 and $50,000.

View the complete article on the Washington Post website here.

Will Kavanaugh Make Trump a Monarch?

The following article by Joe Conason was posted on the Creators.com website July 11, 2018:

Credit: Associated Press

To Donald Trump, the qualifications of any individual for a seat on the nation’s highest court are meaningless. He knows nothing of judicial decisions except Roe v. Wade, the reproductive rights precedent that his supporters want overturned. He has no idea how to assess any judge, beyond his own superficial impressions. He could scarcely care less what any potential nominee may think about the law — with one important exception.

That exception brought us Brett Kavanaugh, winner of Trump’s Supreme Court sweepstakes, and an advocate of executive immunity from precisely the kind of investigations and lawsuits that now threaten this president.

Naturally, Kavanaugh displays all the right (and far-right) credentials, including a Yale law degree, a career dedication to the Federalist Society, and a lifetime of activism in the Republican Party, as well as a current position on the prestigious Second Circuit Court of Appeals. As Democratic senators warn, he can be expected to vote consistently to please his party’s major donors on everything from health care to voting rights. He probably hasn’t changed his mind on any public issue since college.

View the complete article on the Creators.com website here.

Showdown on a Trump Subpoena Could Overshadow Brett Kavanaugh’s Confirmation Image

The following article by Adam Liptak was posted on the New York Times website July 10, 2018:

Judge Brett Kavanaugh visited the Capitol with Vice President Pence, has expressed deep skepticism of the wisdom of forcing a sitting president to answer questions in criminal cases.Credit: Lawrence Jackson for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — It is not every day that a potential constitutional showdown over a presidential subpoena coincides with a confirmation hearing for a crucial Supreme Court seat. Less likely yet is a nominee who has written extensively about the very question at the heart of the dispute.

But that novel historical moment is here.

“It is not at all far-fetched to think that the question of whether President Trump must respond to a subpoena could come before the Supreme Court shortly after the confirmation process,” said Walter Dellinger, who served as acting United States solicitor general in the Clinton administration.

View the complete article on the New York Times website here.

Supreme Court nominee has argued presidents should not be distracted by investigations and lawsuits

The following article by Michael Kranish and Ann E. Marimow was posted on the Washington Post website July 9, 2018:

Brett Kavanaugh accepted President Trump’s nomination to the Supreme Court July 9, after Justice Kennedy announced his retirement in June. (The Washington Post)

U.S. Circuit Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, a former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy who was nominated replace him, has argued that presidents should not be distracted by civil lawsuits, criminal investigations or even questions from a prosecutor or defense attorney while in office.

Kavanaugh had direct personal experience that informed his 2009 article for the Minnesota Law Review: He helped investigate President Bill Clinton as part of independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr’s team and then served for five years as a close aide to President George W. Bush.

Having observed the weighty issues that can consume a president, Kavanaugh wrote, the nation’s chief executive should be exempt from “time-consuming and distracting” lawsuits and investigations, which “would ill serve the public interest, especially in times of financial or national security crisis.”

View the full article on the Washington Post website.