Brett Kavanaugh Confirmation Live Updates: Abortion, Firearms and Trump Loyalty

Senator Feinstein did not ask him the operational question: does he think Roe was properly decided? – but even if she had done so, he had already told Senator Grassley that it would not be appropriate to answer it. She asked him what he meant when he told Republican Senator Susan Collins that he thought Roe was "a well-established law." He then launched a speech on the value of precedent.

Justice Kavanaugh stated that Roe was "a precedent of the Supreme Court" and, as such, deserves the respect of the judges who take note of it. But he then noted that a subsequent case, the Planned Parenthood case c. Casey from 1996, which reduced Roe's reach, at the same time reaffirming that Roe was a precedent.

Casey, who has given states the power to regulate abortion to the extent that these regulations do not pose an "undue burden" on women, is "a precedent precedent," he said.

His comments recalled that, as Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, has often pointed out, precedents are only settled by law until the Supreme Court challenges them. Democrats complain that previous candidates have committed to respecting precedents, only to reduce or cancel them once seated on the court.

Kavanaugh quotes Nixon to assert his independence.

Responding to the very first question put on Wednesday by Senator Grassley, Chair of the Judiciary Committee, Justice Kavanaugh stated that he would be an independent justice. He cited three benchmarks from the Supreme Court to make his point.

Two were predictable: Brown c. Board of Education, the 1954 decision that found separate public schools unconstitutional, and Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company c. Sawyer, the 1952 decision rejecting President Harry S. Truman's attempt to seize national steel mills to help the Korean war effort.

The third was remarkable: United States v. Nixon, the 1974 decision in which the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that President Nixon had to comply with a subpoena requesting cassettes of his conversations at the Oval Office.

Judge Kavanaugh was not always unequivocal in his support for the decision. In a 1999 transcript of a roundtable, he said, "Maybe Nixon was badly chosen – a heresy, though that is to say it." His allies said it was a criticism of the legal strategy of President Bill Clinton's lawyers. .

On Wednesday, Justice Kavanaugh said the message of the decision, which he called one of the greatest moments in US judicial history, was clear. "Nobody is above the law in our constitutional system," he said.

But then there was this:

Feinstein: Can a sitting president be required to respond to a summons?
Kavanaugh: "I can not answer you on this hypothetical question."

–
Sabrina Siddiqui (@SabrinaSiddiqui)
September 5, 2018

"Sham president, sham justice"

Judge Kavanaugh's second day of hearings began with even more protest – just as Senator Grassley opened with the hope that the debates would be more controlled than the opening of Tuesday's divisions. A woman was taken away shouting "sham president, sham justice".

In his opening remarks, Grassley accused the Democrats – who planned the audience strategy during a conference call on Monday – to mingle with the protesters to disrupt the audience.

"NBC News reported that the Democratic members of the committee had plotted with minority leaders to disrupt the hearing yesterday," he said. "Democratic senators interrupted the hearing 63 times before lunch and in the audience, 70 people were arrested yesterday and followed their example."

But one of the protesters opposed Grassley's claim because, she said, she was calling Democratic leaders like Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois for their efforts. lukewarm against the candidate.

Kavanaugh and Osama bin Laden's bodyguard

Judge Kavanaugh presented his decision in an appeal case in 2012 overturning the conviction by a military commission of a former Guantánamo detainee, Salim Hamdan, as proof of his independence and resistance to political decisions.

Mr. Hamdan, a Yemeni who had served as a driver and bodyguard to Osama Bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, was sentenced in 2008 to a military commission charged with providing material support for terrorism. His lawyers challenged the conviction on the grounds that the material support was not an internationally recognized international war crime and that the courts are generally war crimes. The Military Commissions Act of 2006 described this charge as a war crime that courts could deal with, but Kavanaugh J. and the Court of Appeal ruled that it did not apply retroactively and overturned the conviction.

"You will never have a candidate to vote for a more unpopular defendant than that of Salim Hamdan," Judge Kavanaugh said. "And why did I do that in this case? Why did I rule for someone who had been involved in 9/11? This is because the law obliged him.

Nevertheless, Mr. Hamdan, who had already served his sentence and was repatriated to Yemen in 2012, has not been accused of knowing or participating in the September 11 attacks. And in many other important cases involving Guantánamo detainees, Judge Kavanaugh sided with the government – including deciding on ways that made it more difficult for detainees to win. habeas corpus prosecutions to challenge the basis of their indefinite detention in time of war without trial; arguing that the court of appeal did not have jurisdiction to hear the challenge of the accused's military commissions before the court rendered a final judgment; and arguing that international law can not be enforced in the courts as a compulsion against what Congress and the President do with the courts.

A human touch

Judge Kavanaugh, accused by Democrats of being a tool for big business and an enemy of the little guy, lost little time trying to humanize on Wednesday. In response to Senator Grassley's first question about what makes a good judge, he referred to his mother, herself a judge.

"My mother first learned, the judgment is not just about the theory," he said. "It's not theory. This is not just what a law article says. Judging, they are real people in the real world and every decision we make, no matter how intense, affects real people with real interests. "

He said in front of the panel – amid fierce protests in the room – that civility is important.

"I have tried to be a very collegiate judge. I tried to be civil, "he said, adding that he wanted" the losing party to be declared in all cases: "Kavanaugh made it clear."

Will Republicans ask tough questions?

Senator Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona, criticized President Trump during his opening statement, citing a Twitter article published last weekend that attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions to voice his concerns about presidential power.

Despite the criticisms expressed by the senator on Tuesday, Republicans are unlikely to oppose. Instead, the Democrats in the commission – many of whom are facing possible presidential elections in 2020 – are ready to answer the most aggressive questions.

Comfortable in their ability to confirm Judge Kavanaugh by a simple majority vote, the Republicans hailed him as an outstanding jurist for occupying the seat left vacant by Judge Anthony M. Kennedy.

"The sound of democracy" or "popular domination"?

Tuesday's hearing was unusually chaotic for what is usually a quiet legislative process: dozens of protesters were removed from the room and arrested, while Democratic legislators indulged in their own theaters and were frequently interrupted by requests and objections.

[Democrats sought to portray Judge Kavanaugh as a hopeless partisan.]

Senator John Cornyn of Texas, Republican No. 2, accused the Democrats of participating in the "domination of the mob", proclaiming Senator Richard J. Durbins, Democrat of Illinois, that the protests were "the sound of democracy".

But on Wednesday, offering lawmakers the first opportunity to question Judge Kavanaugh, it's hard to know what eventual disruptions will occur. Several senators with presidential aspirations, including Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kamala D. Harris of California and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, will likely continue to use the debates to emphasize their opposition to the current administration and build documents for future campaigns. .

Mr. Grassley, who held the hearing following a call from the Democrats to delay him, has already promised to maintain a better control of the procedure.

[Takeaways from Day 1 of the confirmation hearings.]

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The shadow of President Trump's legal problems

Democrats are expected to pass Judge Kavanaugh's opinion on the extent of executive power, particularly on the question of whether a sitting president should be protected from investigation during his tenure.

Several MEPs argued in their opening statement that the judge would sympathize with Mr Trump if such a situation arose and that he was considered a potential ally for the President. It is likely that they will put pressure on the judge on his changing views on the subject.

"I do not decide cases based on personal or political preferences," Judge Kavanaugh said in his opening remarks, adding, "I am a judge of law."

And while Republicans opposed Judge Kavanaugh's representation as a partisan judge, his summary shows a history of conservative political defense, including a passage in the administration of President George W. Bush.

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