Kavanaugh's role in Bush-era detainee debate now an issue in his Supreme Court nomination
By Michael Kranish
July 18 at 5:50 PM
Brett M. Kavanaugh was adamant as he sat in the witness chair at his 2006 confirmation hearing to be an appeals court judge. Kavanaugh was being questioned by Democrats about his knowledge of President George W. Bush’s torture policy and treatment of detainees while he served as associate White House counsel. He responded that he was “not involved” in “questions about the rules governing detention of combatants.”
Senate Democrats have never fully accepted Kavanaugh’s answers to questions about one of the Bush administration’s most controversial policies, and now they are prepared to resurrect the issue as Kavanaugh faces a hearing as President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.
Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), whose questions in 2006 elicited Kavanaugh’s denial, said in an interview this week that “what he told us under oath is not accurate.” Democrats are seeking Bush White House files to pin down specifics of any Kavanaugh involvement in detainee policy discussions, which could slow the Trump administration’s hope to have Kavanaugh confirmed before the Supreme Court reconvenes Oct. 1.
Kavanaugh was involved in at least one contentious meeting at the Office of White House Counsel in 2002, and two former White House officials detailed his role in interviews this week with The Washington Post. Bush was then developing his policy on detention and interrogation of terrorism suspects, and Kavanaugh was asked to interpret an important question about how the detainee policy was likely to be viewed in a Supreme Court challenge, specifically by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, for whom he had served as a clerk.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/kavanaughs-role-in-bush-era-detainee-debate-now-an-issue-in-his-supreme-court-nomination/2018/07/18/db8eb650-8a06-11e8-a345-a1bf7847b375_story.html