Supreme Court Candidate Releases Mail Application for Previous Testimony

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Democratic senator on Tuesday raised further questions as to whether US Supreme Court candidate Brett Kavanaugh had correctly described his role in a controversial judicial appointment when he was working for the United States. President George W. Bush.

Emails previously held as a "confidential committee", but released by the office of Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, suggest that Kavanaugh, a White House lawyer at the time, had participated in the appointment of William Haynes, a controversial lawyer for the department. of the defense. position of the court of appeal.

President Trump's appointment of Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court is now in the hands of the US Senate. Republicans control the 51 Senate votes needed to confirm Kavanaugh's stay together.

Democrats are striving to block the nomination because they see Kavanaugh tilting the court even more to the right. A final vote in the Senate is scheduled for the end of September.

Kavanaugh testified in 2006, when Bush appointed him to his current position of judge at the court of appeal in Washington, that he was not involved in Haynes' appointment.

One of the two previously hidden emails dated back in 2002 and showed Kavanaugh weighing on a suggestion that Haynes would be appointed for a vacancy on the 4th US-based Richmond-based US appeal court. he was fairly conservative.

"But what's the basis for saying he's going to be a general conservative?" Asked Kavanaugh in his 2002 email. He noted that "others have questions about it" beyond of Haynes's report on military and defense matters.

A 2003 email from Alberto Gonzales, then a White House advisor, invited Kavanaugh to play golf with Haynes.

By posting these emails, Durbin has relaunched his long-standing dispute dating back to Kavanaugh's 2006 confirmation hearing. It was Durbin who then asked if Kavanaugh was involved in the appointment of Haynes.

"I know Jim Haynes, but that's not one of the appointments I made," Kavanaugh said at the time, using Haynes' middle name.

In a statement, Durbin attempted to link Kavanaugh's testimony to several other issues on which Democrats say Kavanaugh gave misleading answers at his confirmation hearing last week, especially if was involved in the interrogation policy of the Bush administration.

"It's a theme we see again and again with Judge Kavanaugh. He says one thing under oath, and then the documents tell another story, "Durbin said.

As general counsel at the Pentagon, Haynes was involved in political decisions relating to detainees and interrogations after the September 11, 2001 attacks. He was finally not confirmed.