Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh repeatedly declined Thursday to answer questions from Democratic senators about recusing himself from any President Trump-related cases stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, citing judicial independence.
During questioning Thursday night before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., asked him to commit to recusing himself.
“Why not right now, right now, even at the jeopardy of President Trump pulling back your nomination, why not now alleviate all of that suspicion that a reasonable person can have?” Booker asked, adding, “Why not just announce right now that you will recuse yourself from any matters coming before the Supreme Court involving the Mueller investigation?”
Committing would not show judiciary independence, said Kavanaugh, a member of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
“All I would be doing is demonstrating that I don’t have the independence of the judiciary … that is necessary to be a good judge,” said Kavanaugh. “All of the nominees who’ve gone before have declined to commit because that would be inconsistent with judicial independence.”
When asked if he thought Trump would withdraw his nomination if he agreed to recuse himself, Kavanaugh sidestepped.
“In this process, I need to uphold the independence of the judiciary,” he said.
Democrats have pressed Kavanaugh to answer whether he would recuse himself if a case involving Trump stemming from Mueller’s probe reached the Supreme Court.
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., then asked if a “reasonable person” would find him to be independent if he did not recuse from such a case.
“My independence, I believe, has been demonstrated by my 12-year record,” Kavanaugh replied. “I believe deeply in the independence of the judiciary.”
[Opinion: Under pressure from Kamala Harris, Brett Kavanaugh made the right moves]
When asked again if he would recuse, he said: “The independence of the judiciary requires that I not commit.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., asked Kavanaugh a similar question during Wednesday’s questioning: if he would recuse himself from cases related to Trump’s “criminal or civil liability.”
“Senator, one of the core principles I’ve articulated here is the independence of the judiciary,” Kavanaugh replied. “One key facet of the independence of the judiciary is to not to make commitments on particular cases.”
When Blumenthal said he took the answer “as a no” and his response should be “yes or no”, Kavanaugh again said he would not commit to an answer “to be consistent with the principle of independence of the judiciary.”
