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Kavenaugh's Rough Week

Democrats gave Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavenaugh a tough time during his confirmation hearings this week.

I have not seen much discussion of where he stands on criminal justice issues: the rights of the accused, sentencing policy, drug law, immigrants and refugees, or the death penalty. I am more interested in his positions on those issues than on whether he would potentially give Trump a legal pass by upholding a refusal by Trump to comply with a subpoena from Mueller. The Federal Defender for the District of Columbia, A.J. Kramer, will be testifying today in support of Kavenaugh (personally, not on behalf of his office). His written remarks are here.

So long as Trump gets to pick the nominee, one will just be worse than the next. That's why elections matter so much. At Vox today, a presidential historian explains Donald Trump in one sentence:

“The fish rots from the head,” he told me, “and the stench of this administration starts at the very top.”

I wrote hundreds of posts about the horrible Bush nominees for the Supreme Court and our federal courts of appeal back in 2002, 2003,2004 and 2005, especially William Pryor, Charles Pickering, Janice Rogers Brown and Priscilla Owen. I endlessly criticized the nomination of Judge Alito. (Just type their name in the search box on the right).

In re-reading a few of these posts today, this one struck me as particularly prescient.

Packing the Supreme Court with conservatives will be one of Bush's longest lasting legacies. The judicial and criminal justice systems will change markedly. Protections we have taken for granted since childhood will disappear.

There will be no reason for every child over the age of 9 to be able to recite Miranda warnings or know a cop has to have a warrant if they want to come in the house or search. They won't know these things because they won't have seen them a hundred times on tv on the cop shows. They won't be referred to on the cop shows since there won't be any more Miranda or 4th Amendment rights to speak of -- the exceptions to these principles will become the rule. Exigent circumstances, good-fath exceptions, the inevitable discovery doctrine, just wait till you see what they will think of next.

Since the Justices are appointed for life, we fear we won't see the pendulum swing back again in our lifetimes. What a legacy to leave our children. If there is one reason not to back a third party candidate who can't possibly win over a Democrat who can, this is surely it.

Back to Kavenaugh: Bush nominated him for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2003, along with the Janice Rogers Brown, when Manuel Estrada's nomination was blocked by Democrats (he later withdrew his name). He was nominated to be the 12th Justice on the Court. During Clinton's term, the Senate wouldn't consider even a 10th Justice on that court saying its workload was too light. The New York Times wrote in 2003:

Mr. Bush nominated Brett M. Kavanaugh, an associate White House counsel, and Janice R. Brown, a California Supreme Court justice, to the 11th and 12th seats on the appeals court.

The court, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, currently has nine active judges and Mr. Bush's choice for the 10th seat, Miguel Estrada, a Washington lawyer, has been blocked by Senate Democrats.

During the eight years when President Bill Clinton was in office, Senate Republicans insisted the court's workload was so light there was no need for it to be filled to its 12-member capacity.

The article described Kavenaugh this way:

Mr. Kavanaugh, at 38, would be one of the youngest members of the federal appeals bench. He is assistant to the president and staff secretary, and has been responsible for marshaling the fleet of largely conservative judicial nominees the president has sent to the Senate, resulting in angry battles with Democrats. But he is probably better known as a senior assistant to Kenneth W. Starr, the independent counsel who investigated President and Mrs. Clinton for a variety of issues.

Mr. Kavanaugh was one of the principal authors of the ''Starr report'' that argued that President Clinton deserved to be impeached because of how he dealt with his dalliance with Monica Lewinsky, a one-time White House intern.

Is Kavenaugh inevitable, or if he were to fail, would the next pick just be worse? Back in 2003, I urged against a Democratic response of "capitulate and embrace":

Instead of capitulate and embrace, and hold the conservative jurists to their promise of more great rulings restricting Congress and the federal courts, we advise the democrats to filibuster, early, loud and often. The only way to prevent these right wing jurists from imposing their narrow and unjust views on the rest of us is to keep them from attaining the bench in the first place.

Take note of political action alerts, write your elected officials and tell them to oppose the nomination, and remember, grass roots efforts can be successful. A Senator can serve his or her constituents only if he or she knows their position on issues. By writing to them, you become heard, and your opinion counts. We neither need nor want another Scalia, Kennedy or Clarence Thomas.

I'm not doing any of things with respect to Kavenaugh. He doesn't strike me as the worst of the worst and I'm more concerned about who Trump's next pick might be if Kavenaugh fails. The issue of whether he'd give Trump a pass on a Mueller subpoena pales in comparison to the issue of how he'll rule on matters of import from crime to the economy to the environment and immigrant rights over the 30 years.

What will I do instead? Hold my nose at the rotten smell emanating from the White House and everyone aligned with Donald Trump.

< Trump Gets Bit By the Snake | George Papadopoulos Sentenced to 14 Days in Jail >
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  • Display: Sort:
    Intresting (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by FlJoe on Sat Sep 08, 2018 at 03:18:54 PM EST
    article about Kavenaugh's "roots". David Brock
    Brett and I were part of a close circle of cold, cynical and ambitious hard-right operatives being groomed by GOP elders for much bigger roles in politics, government and media. And it's those controversial associations that should give members of the Senate and the American public serious pause.

    Call it Kavanaugh's cabal: There was his colleague on the Starr investigation, Alex Azar, now the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Mark Paoletta is now chief counsel to Vice President Mike Pence; House anti-Clinton gumshoe Barbara Comstock is now a Republican member of Congress. Future Fox News personalities Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson were there with Ann Coulter, now a best-selling author, and internet provocateur Matt Drudge.

     I have learned he was born and bred to be a partisan hack, but his fellow hatchlings are impressive vipers in their own right.

    Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D. RI), (5.00 / 2) (#24)
    by KeysDan on Wed Sep 12, 2018 at 02:15:55 PM EST
    a former US Attorney and Rhode Island Attorney General, wants to know if Judge Kavanaugh has a gambling problem.

     In questions, to be returned in writing, Senator Whitehouse asks if the judge has ever sought treatment for gambling addiction.  And, continues his questions along the lines of Kavanaugh's personal finances, including his reported credit card debt and loans of between $60,000 and $200,000.

     The White House has claimed that the debt was incurred as a result of Kavanaugh buying baseball tickets for friends that were later reimbursed.  The credit card loan was paid of in 2016.  Questions were also asked about Kavanaugh's ability to purchase his house ($1.2 million), afford membership in a golf club whose initiation fee is $92,000 with an annual assessment of $9,000.

    Too bad, there was not time for these questions to be asked during the hearings; although Kavanaugh would no doubt artfully bob and weave,the body language would be interesting.  

    On Tuesday evening, Shah publicly denied that Kavanaugh received treatment for a gambling addiction, after reports came out on Whitehouse's questionnaire. Shah told the New York Daily News the answer was "a categorical no."

    "Sheldon Whitehouse's accusation was so incendiary and so baseless that we felt the need to respond," Shah told the Washington Examiner. "The White House believes it's a cheap shot and the answer is no."



    Parent
    Well then, (none / 0) (#26)
    by KeysDan on Wed Sep 12, 2018 at 04:41:24 PM EST
    that settles it.  Although, we do need to watch the wording: "...Shah denied that Kavanaugh received treatment....".  Senator Whitehouse asked if the judge had ever "sought" treatment. A distinction that might be important to Raj Shah, more than Sarah Sanders.

    Miss Sanders, it would seem, would be the more likely communication aide to make this important denial announcement, since Trump does not place Raj high in the pecking order, as indicated in a matter related to the Woodward book, when Trump said "I don't speak to Raj."  Of course, it will be much more valuable to hear from Judge Kavanaugh in his written, under oath, response to Senator Whitehouse.

    Parent

    Washington (CNN)Brett Kavanaugh (none / 0) (#27)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu Sep 13, 2018 at 11:01:53 AM EST
    Washington (CNN)Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court nominee who has drawn scrutiny from Democrats for the thousands of dollars of credit card debt incurred by purchasing baseball tickets, says he was paid by friends for the cost of the tickets "to the dollar."

    "Everyone in the group paid me for their tickets based on the cost of the tickets, to the dollar," Kavanaugh told senators in written questions for the record submitted Wednesday night. "No one overpaid or underpaid me for tickets. No loans were given in either direction."

    [...]

    He also responded to questions about potential gambling debts, saying he had none, as well as his membership to a country club.

    [...]

    Beyond his baseball fandom, Kavanaugh noted in response to questions that has "not had gambling debts or participated in 'fantasy' leagues."

    Kavanaugh has spent alm