Booker defies rule, releases confidential Kavanaugh email

Republicans countered Kavanaugh’s judicial opinions, which should be the greatest indicators of his qualifications, are public record and should be the focus of the hearing. He cited Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan as insisting in their confirmation hearings that nominees can offer no forecasts or hints on how they might rule on a case. Should a single Republican oppose Kavanaugh, it could throw his confirmation into jeopardy, although there has been little sign that any GOP senator was prepared to buck the president.

During the confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Kavanaugh said: “As a general proposition I understand the importance of the precedent set forth in Roe v. Wade“.

Democrats are concerned that Kavanaugh will push the court to the right and that he will side with Trump in cases stemming from Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible ties to the Trump campaign.

Asked about it by the committee’s top Democrat, Dianne Feinstein of California, Kavanaugh reiterated his previous testimony that “Roe v. Wade is an important precedent of the Supreme Court”.

“That takes some backbone”, he said of the justices who decided those cases.

A group of protesters bearing a message as stark as their red and white costumes are opposing Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings.

As protesters in the audience screamed while being dragged out of the hearing room, Kavanaugh sat fingers intertwined, quietly staring ahead.

“What we’ve heard is the noise of democracy”. That prospect worries Democrats and heartens Republicans on volatile issues including abortion, gun rights, gay rights, the death penalty, religious liberty and business regulation.

The 53-year-old conservative jurist was tapped by the president to succeed retiring justice Anthony Kennedy-often the swing vote in the country’s highest court-in a lifetime appointment.

The Kavanaugh questioning continues Thursday.

Kavanaugh said he followed Supreme Court precedent, but Durbin disagreed.

“There are battles worth fighting, regardless of the outcome”, Sen. However, New York Times picked up on an email Kavanaugh wrote in 2003 when he worked in the George W. Bush administration, and it leaves his position ambiguous in terms of whether he thinks abortion is a settled issue.

He also refused an invitation from Democratic U.S. Sen. Grassley gaveled the committee to order Tuesday.

The New Jersey Democrat identified a Kavanaugh document related to racial profiling among the tens of thousands deemed “committee confidential” – meaning senators can view them but they have not been released to the public in advance of the hearing.

Leahy said that the Senate Judiciary had other documents that provide even more proof that the nominee misled senators about internal Democratic documents he received, but those records are now “committee confidential”, meaning they can only be viewed by members.

After an explosive line of questioning by Sen.

“It is about politics”, said Cruz. Democratic senators must put an end to this secretive sham.

Republicans have a slim majority in the 100-seat upper house.

In the Minnesota Law Review, Kavanaugh argued that while the nation requires a check against “a bad-behaving or law-breaking president”, that check is provided only by the US Constitution. No senator has been expelled from that body since 1862, and most of the 15 who have been expelled were ousted for expressing support for the Confederacy.

Associated Press writers Jessica Gresko and Ken Thomas contributed.