Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh believes the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller to oversee the Russia investigation is appropriate and has informed senators of his position, a new report says.
Kavanaugh has shared his views with senators as he has met with them on Capitol Hill. He has also maintained that Congress should spearhead impeachment and removal of a president, as well as pass legislation that would guarantee a president could be indicted after he or she is not in office, CNN reports.
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., has met with Kavanaugh and told CNN that he didn’t think Kavanaugh would consider Mueller’s appointment unconstitutional.
“I don’t share those concerns,” Flake said, after claiming that other lawmakers have been worried Kavanaugh would doubt the legality of Mueller’s investigation.
Critics of Kavanaugh have pointed to an article Kavanaugh wrote that claimed presidents should not be tied up in lawsuits and probes and have warned that Trump 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.”
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.
[Related: Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on the major issues]
Kavanaugh will need a simple majority to be confirmed. A total of 50 votes will be needed to confirm Kavanaugh in the event that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., remains in Arizona where he is battling brain cancer.
Kavanaugh is the second Supreme Court justice President Trump has nominated. Neil Gorsuch was Trump’s first pick; he was confirmed to the seat left by the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
