The real reason Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court
In a world where Donald Trump’s administration is creating scandals by the hour, and with only so many hours in the day, important issues often do not receive the appropriate airtime. The sudden announcement that Justice Anthony Kennedy was going to step down and give Trump a second Supreme Court nomination initially resulted in around the clock coverage. However, within a couple days it was barely being mentioned. As Palmer Report explained, with so much at stake, it is critical that Senate Democrats do everything in their power to prevent the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh.
Much has been reported on Kavanaugh’s judicial record when it comes to his views on issues such as abortion, LGBT rights, and civil rights. There have also been many discussions on Kavanaugh’s sudden pivot with regard to the protections of a sitting president. After assisting independent counsel Kenneth Starr’s investigation into President Bill Clinton, Kavanaugh changed his view about a president being subjected to a criminal investigation or even a subpoena. This belief will certainly be a topic of much discussion during the confirmation hearing.
While all of these issues are incredibly important, much less discussion has been given to fact that Kavanaugh, with regard to the unanimous 1974 Supreme Court ruling that forced Nixon to turn over the Watergate tapes, said “at three different points that the decision in U.S. v. Nixon, which marked limits on a president’s ability to withhold information needed for a criminal prosecution, may have come out the wrong way.”
Such a decision, if ever made by the Supreme Court, would certainly make the president above the law. Benjamin Wittes, Co-Director of the Harvard Law School, writes that “in the context of the Mueller investigation and the Trump presidency, a segment of Kavanaugh’s speech—the whole of which he later published as an article—has become an exhibit in the early case for the grave danger that he poses to our republic.” While this topic will get more attention as we get closer to the confirmation hearing, everyone should be calling their Senators to ensure they truly know how important it is to stop this nomination.
I’m a ceramic engineer living in Central New York, avid sports fan but find myself more interested in politics lately.