Critics of President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, connected Kavanaugh’s selection to the ongoing Russia investigation, citing an article Kavanaugh wrote that claimed presidents should not be tied up in lawsuits and probes and warning that the commander in chief might be looking for a way to protect himself in a legal challenge.
In a 2009 Minnesota Law Review article, Kavanaugh claimed that presidents should not be caught up in “time-consuming and distracting” lawsuits and investigations. He argued that they “would ill serve the public interest, especially in times of financial or national security crisis.”
“In choosing Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump is declaring he wants a fight,” Brian Fallon, executive director of Demand Justice, said in a statement Monday. “Brett Kavanaugh will be hostile to Roe, hostile to Obamacare, and friendly to Donald Trump in showdown with Robert Mueller.”
“No other candidate on Trump’s shortlist better satisfies every one of Trump’s litmus tests,” Fallon, a former aide to former Attorney General Eric Holder and ex-Hillary Clinton campaign press secretary, added. “Those litmus tests will now be an anchor around the feet of this nominee.”
Demand Justice was founded by Fallon and was designed to “fight for progressive change,” according to the organization’s website.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, also tied Kavanaugh to the Mueller probe, which is looking into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia and if Trump attempted to obstruct the inquiry.
“Ever mindful of his self-interest, Trump has picked Brett Kavanaugh, who once wrote that he didn’t believe a sitting President should be subject to criminal investigation or prosecution,” Schiff tweeted Monday evening. “Kavanaugh could be deciding vote on legal challenges to the Mueller investigation.”
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., called Trump’s choice “self-serving.”
“He picked the one guy who has specifically written that a president in fact should not be the subject of a criminal investigation, which the president is right now,” said in an interview on MSNBC Monday night. “So this seems to be, of all the people, the most self-serving the person he could choose in order to protect himself from this criminal investigation.”
After he was announced as Trump’s pick to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, Kavanaugh claimed that he would maintain an “open mind” on cases if he became the next Supreme Court justice.
“If confirmed by the Senate, I will keep an open mind in every case,” Kavanaugh said Monday at the White House.
Kavanaugh is the second Supreme Court justice Trump has nominated. Neil Gorsuch was Trump’s first pick; he was confirmed to the seat left by the late Antonin Scalia.
