Brett Kavanaugh

Collins’ Warmth Brightens Kavanaugh’s Prospects The Hill, August 21, 2018

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As she faces a crush of ads urging her to reject the Supreme Court nominee for his conservative stance on abortion rights, Collins sounds increasingly positive on Kavanaugh’s nomination. She refuses to say she’s even leaning in favor of Kavanaugh, but on topics from health care to abortion to the special counsel the nominee placated her with his answers.

“He is clearly well-credentialed, has appropriate experience, is thoughtful in his approach to the issues, emphasized his belief in an independent judiciary, underscored his commitment to stare decisis,” Collins said in a 25-minute interview in her office late Tuesday. “I’m just not — I want to make sure I have the benefit of the hearings before reaching a decision.”

Collins’s relative warmth toward Kavanaugh has Republicans on the precipice of confirming the Supreme Court nominee before the 2018 midterm elections.

Neither Kavanaugh nor constitutional originalism are scary The Hill, August 21, 2018 Opinion

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A continuing theme in the criticism of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court has been that his references to constitutional originalism suggest he would reach a series of bad results in certain cases.

The attacks on a crude caricature of originalism reveal more about the sloppiness (or worse) of those who make these attacks than they do about originalism.

 

 

Democrats Down to “Hail Mary” Moves in Fight to Kill Kavanaugh Confirmation InsideSources, August 20, 2018

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With a clearly qualified candidate, public polls generally favoring support, and at last three Senate Democrats representing red states where Kavanaugh’s confirmation is strongly favored—Indiana, North Dakota and West Virginia—the political wind is strongly at the backs of Sen. Mitch McConnell and the GOP.

The media appear to have largely accepted the inevitable as well.  The “scandal” stories surrounding Kavanaugh thus far have focused on such marginal issues as his credit-card purchases of tickets to see the Washington Nationals play baseball, and memos from the Monica Lewinsky investigation urging uncomfortably-blunt questioning of then-President Bill Clinton about his behavior in the Oval Office.

Kavanaugh racks up record of dissenting opinions in major federal cases Kavanaugh builds record of written opinions, dissents in major cases Judge’s reasoning ultimately prevails in several reviews The Washington Times, August 20, 2018

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Out of 29 “essential” opinions the judge wrote, according to the Congressional Research Service, 17 were in dissent from majority decisions, either on the merits of a case or sometimes on whether to hear the case in the first place.

He also notched a successful record on further review. Of those 29 opinions identified by the Congressional Research Service, the Supreme Court ended up hearing eight appeals of the same or similar cases. Judge Kavanaugh’s reasoning prevailed substantially in six of those cases.

Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s opponents are getting desperate and nonsensical The Washington Examiner, August 15, 2018

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My dad used to say that it’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak up and remove all doubt. I should have heeded that advice more often growing up, and some groups opposing Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court would do better to heed that advice now.

The group Demand Justice, for example, has an unusual demand. In their latest email blast, they demand that Senate Democrats show that they “take the Constitution seriously” by “boycott[ing] Kavanaugh’s hearings.”

Demand Justice says that boycotting this crucial part of the confirmation process will somehow prove that senators take the Constitution seriously? (Insert head-scratching sound here.)

The Kavanaugh Document Fight The Wall Street Journal, August 14, 2018 Editorial

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Grassley is following the precedents set by Democrats on Kagan.

The Senate Judiciary Committee announced Friday that confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh will begin September 4, nearly two months after his nomination. That’s more than enough time for Senators to examine his voluminous public record, but Democrats are alleging a cover-up.

Dems Should Drop Delay Tactics & Evaluate Kavanaugh on the Merits Real Clear Policy, August 13, 2018

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Judge Kavanaugh is one of the most qualified individuals to ever be nominated to the Supreme Court. He has demonstrated integrity and influence as a judge on the D.C. Circuit. Kavanaugh understands that the judge’s role is to apply the law as it is written, not to impose his own policy preferences. He is a textualist when interpreting statutes and frequently resorts to history and tradition when interpreting the Constitution.

He has also demonstrated a keen understanding of economics and economic regulation. In his 12 years as a judge on the D.C. Circuit — considered the second-most powerful court in the country — Judge Kavanaugh has authored 307 opinions and joined hundreds more. These are the most relevant materials for assessing Judge Kavanaugh’s fitness to serve on the Supreme Court, and they provide a more than sufficient basis to complete such an evaluation. By attempting to obstruct and delay a well-qualified nominee, Senate Democrats are attempting to play election-year politics.

Judge Kavanaugh Can Be Trusted To Safeguard Our First Amendment Rights The Hill, August 12, 2018 Opinion

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President Trump should be commended for his nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, an abundantly qualified and impartial judge, to the Supreme Court. Throughout his judicial career, Kavanaugh has consistently defended Americans’ constitutional rights, including the religious liberties of all Americans, as enshrined in the First Amendment. Kavanaugh can be trusted to continue to protect this fundamental right as a justice on the nation’s highest court.

First and foremost, Judge Kavanaugh understands that judges must base their rulings on the text of the Constitution and the law, not on their own personal political beliefs or policy preferences. In a keynote address at Notre Dame Law School last year, Kavanaugh explained this obligation: “I believe very deeply in those visions of the rule of law as a law of rules, and of the judge as umpire,” he said. “By that, I mean a neutral, impartial judiciary that decides cases based on settled principles without regard to policy preferences or political allegiances or which party is on which side in a particular case.”

Facts About Kavanaugh Documents

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KAVANAUGH DOCUMENTS FACTS:

Judge Kavanaugh has been on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals for 12 years. He has issued 307 opinions and joined hundreds more.  He has a comprehensive record of jurisprudence that has been in the public domain for years.

The Judiciary Committee has reviewed hundreds of thousands of documents—more than were submitted for both Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kagan.

Documents submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee pertaining to Judge Kavanaugh’s time serving in the White House Counsel’s and Independent Counsel’s offices are the largest number of executive branch records ever submitted to the Committee for a Supreme Court nominee.

Judge Kavanaugh returned the most comprehensive, bipartisan Senate questionnaire in Judiciary Committee history.

Senator Grassley has allotted more time between the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh and the start date of hearings than the timeline established by former Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy for Justices Sotomayor and Kagan. Senator Leahy scheduled hearings 49 days after the nomination of Justice Kagan, and 48 days after the nomination of Justice Sotomayor.  Judge Kavanaugh’s hearings will start 57 days after his nomination.  Hearings for Justice Gorsuch were held 48 days after his nomination announcement.

The Kavanaugh nomination has been the most transparent nomination process in history. During the presidential campaign, President Trump publicized a list of extraordinarily qualified individuals he said he would choose from to fill Supreme Court vacancies.  Judge Kavanaugh has been on that list since November of 2017.