Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is taking aim at another frontrunner to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court, criticizing Judge Brett Kavanaugh for comments on criminal investigations of presidents and his dissent in a case involving net neutrality.
[Update: Trump nominates Brett Kavanaugh to Supreme Court]
Kavanaugh, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, is one of five top candidates to replace Kennedy. He reportedly was among the four possible nominees interviewed by Trump at the White House on Monday.
Schumer’s tweets opposing Kavanaugh come after he knocked Judge Amy Coney Barrett of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a series of tweets Monday. Barrett is also considered to be a top contender to replace Kennedy, who announced his retirement last week.
“Brett Kavanaugh is a judge on the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit & on @realDonaldTrump’s pre-approved list, having passed the ‘litmus test’ on overturning Roe v. Wade & striking down protections for ppl w/ pre-ex conditions in the ACA. Here’s #WhatsAtStake if he’s confirmed,” Schumer said in one tweet.
“Kavanaugh argued that the D.C. Circuit should consider a claim that the ACA was unconstitutional. Several of his fellow judges described Kavanaugh’s argument as a ‘flawed’ ‘misread’ of #SCOTUS precedent. #WhatsAtStake,” he said in a subsequent tweet. “Brett Kavanaugh would have helped the Trump administration keep a young girl in federal custody to prevent her obtaining constitutionally protected health care. #WhatsAtStake”
Schumer was referencing Kavanaugh’s opinion in a case last year involving an illegal immigrant teenager seeking an abortion. Kavanaugh dissented to a ruling from the full D.C. Circuit Court, saying it was “ultimately based on a constitutional principle as novel as it is wrong: a new right for unlawful immigrant minors in U.S. Government detention to obtain immediate abortion on demand.”
The New York Democrat went to to criticize Kavanaugh for a Minnesota Law Review article in 2009, in which he said Congress should enact a law allowing for personal civil suits and criminal investigations against presidents to be deferred while the president is in office.
“Kavanaugh has taken numerous positions that question his ability to be an indep. check on @POTUS, saying investigations of presidents should be deferred while in office & a president needn’t obey it when he ‘deems the law unconstitutional,’” he tweeted. “Kavanaugh frequently sides with powerful interests rather than defending the rights of all Americans like when he argued that the FCC’s #NetNeutrality rule benefiting millions of consumers was unconstitutional.”
“Instead of picking a nominee for #SCOTUS off of a list pre-approved by powerful special interests, @realDonaldTrump should instead consult with @SenateDems & @SenateGOP to find a consensus, mainstream & independent nominee,” Schumer concluded.
Trump is expected to name his nominee to the Supreme Court on Monday, kicking off what will likely be a bruising confirmation fight.
Democrats and liberal advocacy groups have already launched campaigns to oppose those considered to be at the top of Trump’s list, with a focus on the future of abortion rights and the Affordable Care Act.
[More: John McCain praises Brett Kavanaugh as ‘fair, mainstream judge’ with ‘impeccable credentials’]
