August 10, 2018
Week Five #ConfirmKavanaugh – “Kavanaugh Votes for Constitution, Not Candidates” & Cont’d Dem Delays
Capping off Week Five of #ConfirmKavanaugh, Senator Joe Manchin told a local West Virginia newspaper that he found Judge Kavanaugh to be “very forthcoming” in their meeting last week.
Breitbart wrote about Judge Kavanaugh’s decision 12 years ago to “forego his legal right to continue casting ballots, to avoid even the allegation that he preferred one political party or agenda over another.”
“Much has been said about Kavanaugh as a “judge’s judge.” The fact that he does not even vote for politicians anymore – which is a private act, and therefore one that many federal judges continue to exercise and that judicial ethics rules allow – is the latest item bolstering his image as someone who is stringently independent.”
The documents released from Judge Kavanaugh’s time in the Bush administration included an email exchange from November 19, 2001 on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s heading on “post 9/11 actions by the Justice Department.” Senator Dick Durbin attempted to argue that this exchange proved Judge Kavanaugh lied under oath during his 2006 confirmation hearing. Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) President Ed Whelan debunked this false charge yesterday afternoon:
The National Review – Bench Memos: “A New York Times headline blares “Kavanaugh Had Role in a Bush White House Debate About Terrorism Suspects, Email Shows.” The article below the headline insinuates that there is some sort of conflict between the email and Judge Kavanaugh’s testimony at his 2006 hearing on his D.C. Circuit nomination that he was not involved in “questions about the rules governing detention of combatants.” But any such conflict is an illusion built on confusion…
The “attorney-client issue” here had nothing to do with detained enemy combatants. Rather, it concerned inmates in federal prisons…In short, there is no story here.”
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley penned two op-eds this week discussing his goal of “conducting the most thorough and transparent confirmation process of any Supreme Court nominee to date” and highlighting the “bad faith” effort by Democrats to use document demands as stall tactics:
Washington Post: I’m ready to work to confirm Kavanaugh. I invite Democrats to join me.
Wall Street Journal: A Moment of Honesty From Chuck Schumer: Document demands are in bad faith
Up next, Senators Joe Donnelly and Heidi Heitkamp will meet with Judge Kavanaugh on Wednesday for what are expected to be “very forthcoming” meetings.