WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2018
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THE COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW ORLEANS Volume: 62 Issue: 3
SEPTEMBER 12, 2018
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Kavanaugh on the court
Last week’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing, simply explained BY CRYSTAL MCCOY News Editor Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement from the Supreme Court this year resulted in a vacancy on the Court to be filled by a nominee chosen by President Donald Trump. This new nomination carried especially significant implications for the future political direction of Court decisions, due to former Justice Kennedy’s reputation as the “Swing Justice” on the Court. In a notable number of decisions in which the four liberal-leaning Justices put forth one opinion on a case and the four conservative-leaning Justices put forth another, Kennedy was known to have a capacity to move in either direction. President Trump’s nominee Brett Kavanaugh, in perceptible contrast, is regarded to be a much more conservative-leaning judge due to his decisions in a number of cases that he has written on. One such closely scrutinized example includes his dissent against a ruling that a detained undocumented teenager had a right to access abortion, on which he wrote, “the government has permissible interests in favoring fetal life, protecting the best interests of a minor, and refraining from facilitating abortion.” Another of his positions that has drawn much attention is his view on the extent of presidential power, or more specifically whether a sitting president has the right to pardon himself in a criminal investigation. This position is especially noteworthy due to
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Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. President Trump’s proximity to the ongoing Russia probe and Trump’s prior claims that he has, as he described, the “absolute right” to pardon himself of federal crimes. Trump’s lawyers said they would challenge any subpoena (an order for a person to attend court) from Special Counsel Robert Mueller all the way to the Supreme Court. This issue has drawn debate because of Kavanaugh’s reference to criminal investigations of a sitting president as “time-consuming and distracting.” These and many more issues made for a contentious week of
Kavanaugh awaits the start of the hearing proceedings on Tuesday, Sept. 4.
confirmation hearings. The hearings extended from September 4 to September 7. Included below is an overview of key occurrences on each day. Day 1 The beginning of the confirmation is delayed by 90 minutes due to Democratic senators’ call for a postponement of the hearing. Forty-five thousand documents from Kavanaugh’s career as a staff secretary for the Bush administration were released only the night before the hearing, which Democrats argued gave them little time
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for review. Additionally, Democrats raised objections to the withholding of 100,000 documents by the White House due to claims of executive privilege. The Chairman refuses to grant a delay. Protests from members of the public erupt intermittently throughout the hearing. Many individuals are escorted out of the hearing room by police. TheSenate Judiciary Committee makes a protracted round of speeches. Day 2 Brett Kavanaugh speaks at the hearing. Senators raise a number of issues, one of which is the question of Kavanaugh’s position on key issues. Kavanaugh refers to what he describes as the “nominee precedent,” which is essentially that prior Supreme Court nominees have not disclosed positions that they would take in potential court cases at their confirmation hearings. He intends to rely on the actual facts of cases that come before him and refrain from answering what he regards to be hypothetical questions. Kavanaugh is additionally questioned on presidential power and Roe v. Wade. He offers similar statements in response. Due to continuous interruptions, members of the public stopped being admitted into the hearing room. Day 3 Kavanaugh is further questioned on matters of abortion and the Roe
v. Wade precedent. A reference by Kavanaugh to contraception as “abortion-inducing drugs” drew consternation from abortion rights groups and individuals. Kavanaugh has referred to Roe v. Wade as “settled law.” Kavanaugh is questioned on same-sex marriage. He expressed an alignment with the opinion written by Justice Kennedy on Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission that “our society has come to the recognition that gay persons and gay couples cannot be treated as social outcasts or as inferior in dignity and worth.” Day 4 The final day of the confirmation hearing included witnesses called upon by Republicans and Democrats to testify on Kavanaugh’s character, decisions and other qualities. Witnesses for Republicans included friends and colleagues of Kavanaugh’s who verified his outstanding vocational record and his exceptional personal attributes. Witnesses for the Democrats included a student survivor of the Parkland, Florida school shooting and a legal guardian of the detained undocumented teen seeking an abortion (mentioned earlier in this article). Democratic witnesses spoke on concerns of Kavanaugh’s attitude toward the Roe v. Wade precedent, disability rights, birth control access, and presidential pardoning powers.