Kavanaugh Live Hearings Updates: Abortion Documents Take Center Stage

The documents do not indicate how Judge Kavanaugh would rule, but they are fodder for Democratic questioning. Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, asked Mr. Kavanaugh about the document, noting it had been made public.

Mr. Kavanaugh defended the statement he made in the email, and said "the general point was simply that it was overstating something about legal scholars."

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"I'm always concerned about accuracy, and I thought it was not an accurate description of all legal scholars," he said, adding later that Roe v. Wade is an important precedent. It has been reaffirmed many times. "He declined to comment on Ms. Feinstein's questions.

NARAL Pro-Choice America, the abortion rights lobby, jumped on the release: "Brett Kavanaugh's emails are rock solid evidence that he has been hiding his true beliefs and if he is given a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court, he will gut Roe v. Wade, criminalize abortion, and punish women. Everything he said yesterday in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on 'settled law' was nothing but a show to mislead the Senate. "

[Read more about the documents, here.]

Sparks fly over "committee confidential" documents

Even as The Times were publishing secret emails involving Judge Kavanaugh, the Judiciary Committee chairman, Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, was trying to address the issue.

Mr. Grassley said that they should have the documents that they want to incorporate into their questions, and that the committee is working to accommodate them by the Department of Justice.

But Senator Cory Booker, the Democrat from New Jersey, said he would release a confidential document – an email he said was titled "racial profiling" – that he sought out Mr. Kavanaugh on.

"That document does reveal his thinking on the issue of time," Mr. Booker said, and later added that "I am ready to accept the full responsibility for this. document."

[[Read the document here]

Mr Booker, and Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, said she, too would look to release committee confidential documents. Documents obtained by The Times also showed that Kavanaugh wrote that it was necessary to make statements about the question of nationality.

"Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island said," I am not willing to concede that there is any legitimacy to this entire committee. "Nothing sensitive, nothing personal classified or confidential has been released."

Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, said Mr. Booker releasing the committee's confidential documents would be "irresponsible and outrageous."

"No senator reserves to sit on this committee or serve in the Senate if they decide to be a law over themselves," he said.

What do Democrats know that they can not share?

Late in Wednesday's proceedings, the questioning of Senator Kamala Harris, Democrat of California, and questioned the question of whether Judge Kavanaugh had been investigated by Robert S. Mueller III, with a lawyer From the law firm of President Trump's longtime personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz.

Judge Kavanaugh appeared somewhat baffled, but he would not offer a blanket "no" because he said he did not know the names of every lawyer who worked for the firm, and he had discussed Mueller investigation with lawyers and judges.

"I think you're thinking of someone, and you do not want to tell us," Ms. Harris said without elaboration.

Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, gives Judge Kavanaugh an opportunity on Thursday to revisit Ms. Harris's line of questioning. Mr. Kavanaugh responded by acknowledging he does not know everyone who works at the firm, but said, "I do not remember any conversations of that kind."

"Judge Kavanaugh said. "I've never given anyone any winks, hints, forecasts, previews, nothing, about my view as a judge, or how I would rule out that or anything related to that."

In a letter last June to Mr. Mueller, Mr. Kasowitz cited a majority opinion by Judge Kavanaugh, without naming him, saying, "The President may decline to prosecute certain violators of federal law just as the President may pardon certain violators of federal law . The President may decline to hear or forgive because of the position of the President.

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The question is, can the senator tell the public what she knows?

Cameras in the high court? Not likely.

Most Supreme Court nominees express enthusiasm for cameras in the court at their confirmation hearings, only to change their minds after they join the court. Judge Kavanaugh took a different approach, saying only that "I will have an open mind on it."

He said his current court, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, has recently opened a live audio coverage of its arguments. That development, he said, was a positive one.

But he offered only a vague comment on the electronic coverage of the Supreme Court. The general release of audio recording of the case.

Judge Kavanaugh made one novel suggestion, offering a summary of their views from the bench. The court, which is currently releasing audio, is unlikely to adopt the idea. The justices may be more likely than their written oral summaries, rather than their written opinions, precisely set out the details of decisions.

And what about allegations of secret meetings?

Another tantalizing moment on Wednesday came when Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, asked Judge Kavanaugh whether he had meetings with Manuel Miranda, to form Senate Republican's aide who was caught stealing files from the Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats, including Mr. Leahy.

Judge Kavanaugh denied ever receiving stolen material when he was at White House helping tasked with getting President George W. Bush's judicial nominees confirmed.

Senator Leahy indicated that he had documents backing up his questioning, but that they are marked "committee confidential" and can be released only with the permission of the Judiciary Committee Chairman, Charles E. Grassley of Iowa. Mr. Grassley said he would consider the matter.

Will those documents come to light, one way or another?

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