Sen. Tim Kaine's statement opposing Kavanaugh
"Dear (Spooky3),
Thank you for contacting me about the Supreme Court. I appreciate hearing from you.
On July 9th, 2018, President Trump nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to be the next Supreme Court Justice. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford has come forward with a serious charge that Judge Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her during their high school years, providing notes from therapy sessions in 2012 to corroborate her claim, which Judge Kavanaugh denies. The Senate owes it to Dr. Ford, sexual assault survivors, and the entire nation to dutifully examine her charge. I have publicly called for the FBI to investigate these charges, and for the Judiciary Committee to hold hearings where Dr. Ford, Judge Kavanaugh, and other relevant witnesses may testify. The Judiciary Committee is currently scheduled to hear from Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh on September 27th.
In addition, others have come forward with allegations about Judge Kavanaugh that must be fully investigated. I continue to call for the FBI to examine all such allegations, and the Judiciary Committee should delay voting on Judge Kavanaugh until that investigation is complete.
Prior to these allegations, I had announced that I will oppose Judge Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court. I have diligently studied his record of academic writings and judicial opinions. I have read the limited documents made available from his time working for Mr. Starr and President Bush. I have interviewed him face-to-face in my office. And I have observed his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. All of this has led me to the conclusion that he lacks the independence to decide the most important issues facing our country and that he could upend settled law in several different areas without sufficient basis.
We are in a pivotal time in our nation's history. Our current President continues to disrupt our democratic norms and institutions; his actions have and will continue to create an avalanche of litigation, much of which will be decided by the Supreme Court. Judge Kavanaugh has failed to show he'll be an independent check against unlawful action by the President. Among other things, he has said that a 1988 Supreme Court opinion upholding, by a 7-1 vote, an independent counsel to investigate the President was wrongly decided. He has suggested that the unanimous Supreme Court opinion forcing President Nixon to comply with a subpoena and turn over secret tapes was wrongly decided. He refused to say in his confirmation hearing whether a President must comply with a lawfully issued subpoena. He would not say whether a President could pardon himself. He has written that a President may refuse to enforce a law validly passed by Congress even if that law has been upheld as Constitutional by the Supreme Court. And he refuses to criticize this President's attacks on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and our nation's law enforcement officials. His pattern of excessive deference to the executive is not characteristic of the independence that the Framers sought when they designed our government.
Judge Kavanaugh's views about Supreme Court precedent also do not inspire confidence. He has stated in his hearings that he views Roe v. Wade as "settled law." But in a 2003 email while working for the Bush Administration he resisted characterizing Roe as "settled law" since the "Court can always overrule its precedent and three current Justices on the Court would do so." This candid admission raises a whole series of questions about what other "settled" areas of law-in an era of 5-4 Supreme Court decisions-might suddenly be unsettled by this nominee. The constitutionality of women's reproductive rights, the Affordable Care Act, the right of same-sex couples to marry, key immigration issues, the acceptability of reasonable rules to reduce gun violence, the ability to detain U.S. citizens as enemy combatants, and so many other issues currently under discussion could shift dramatically if he is confirmed. Judge Kavanaugh's selective refusal in hearings to answer questions about issues deeply important to millions of Americans did nothing to allay these fears. And these concerns are magnified by the Administration's unwillingness to produce over 100,000 pages of his written records, material that would likely shed additional light on his views.
I was a civil rights lawyer for 17 years, with cases in state and federal trial and appellate courts, including the United States Supreme Court. As a Governor, I appointed two Virginia Supreme Court Justices. I've taught constitutional law and legal ethics at the University of Richmond Law School, and my wife, Anne, served as a Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Judge for many years. I have thought long and hard about the mixture of skills required to be a good judge. I acknowledge that Judge Kavanaugh is a hard-working public servant who has won the admiration of many. But in these troubling times, I fear his confirmation to the Supreme Court would compromise judicial independence and threaten critical precedents.
Thank you again for contacting me."
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