Courts, Politics, Supreme Court

President Trump Nominates Brett Kavanaugh To Replace Justice Kennedy
KavanaughFinal-640x367
Whitehouse.gov

President Donald Trump has nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to replace retiring Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy.  Kavanaugh was opposed by some conservatives and is not viewed as strongly anti-abortion as Amy Coney Barrett of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. However, he is highly intelligent and accomplished.  I have a column out this morning in The Hill newspaper.

Kavanaugh was not the easiest nominee for Trump and could present logistical and substantive challenges.  Logistically, his over 300 opinions and record of prior service will make it difficult to wrap up the confirmation by the midterm election. On substance, his highly deferential view on presidential power could threaten votes from members like Rand Paul and his assumed views on Roe v. Wade could endanger a couple of Republican female senators like Susan Collins.

However, he presents equal challenges for the Democrats who could undermine the election prospects for members in purple states for the midterm elections.  He is the perfect wedge nominee for purple states.

What do you think of Trump’s choice?

198 thoughts on “President Trump Nominates Brett Kavanaugh To Replace Justice Kennedy”

    3. Sorry, Patriot. I stopped reading at “Thomas Jefferson School of Law.”

  2. Progressives have spent quite a bit of energy over the last 100 years sucking power away from the states and into the hands of our federal government, and that includes the Supreme Court. I can understand their panic with Judge K as he does not see himself or the court as an extension of either the Executive or Legislative branch of government. He’ll plant his flag squarely on the constitution and he’ll rule based on the text of the laws in question. If he does that, Congress and the President will be forced to do their job. If that sort of judge is considered extreme, then I’d argue it’s not the judge who has moved radically away from the original intent but rather our country and those they elect to govern have.

  3. Nick S. I thought Trump said he wouldn’t appoint anyone from the ivy league. I also heard he’s supposed to be some kind of a Washington insider type. I think Trump came up with this guy so he could have someone sitting on the bench before midterms.

  4. Nick S. I thought Trump said he wouldn’t appoint anyone from the ivy league. I also heard he’s supposed to be some kind of a Washington insider type. I think Trump came up with this guy so he could have someone sitting on the bench before midterms.

  5. He was Ann Coulter’s pick, that is good enough for me. 🙂

  8. You gotta Love the way the Dumunist party is freaking out. You have a bout 6 more years Dumunist’s, the people even some of your people didn’t like the way you were taking the country.

  9. It appears the term fascist is now in vogue. I guess racist and sexist have run their course.

    1. I. Bob,…
      – I’m trying to see if we can bring back “commie” and “pinko” into style.😀
      As long as stupid labels are thrown around carelessly, we should go for some kind of “balance” in the labels and accusations being used.😄

      1. I think “commie” and “pinko” would be great to bring back. “Pinko” especially goes well with the silly hats the feminists like to wear.

  10. Turley wrote, “On substance, [Kavanaugh’s] highly deferential view on presidential power could threaten votes from members like Rand Paul . . . ”

    Really? That’s all? Let me I tell you something Turley: Mueller is going to subpoena Trump; Trump is going to challenge that subpoena in the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh is going to be grilled like a salmon steak at his confirmation hearing over the question of Trump’s inevitable challenge to Mueller’s inevitable subpoena. Rand Paul’s vote is amongst the least of Kavanaugh’s worries. The people have a right to know in advance whether Trump’s nominee for The Supreme Court is going to quash a grand jury subpoena served on The POTUS who nominated him. That’s not the sort of question that a nominee can duck and dodge. And here’s why not: It’s highly probable that Trump picked Kavanaugh precisely and exactly just because of “his highly deferential view on presidential power.” What’s worse is that it’s entirely possible that Kennedy might not have retired before the mid-term election had Trump not promised Kennedy to nominate Kavanaugh–albeit for reasons other than Kavanaugh’s highly deferential view on presidential power. Can you say self-dealing?

    1. “Let me I tell you Turley”!?!
      Let me,
      I tell ya, L4D:
      fake seers and psychics are a dime a dozen.
      Do you do horoscopes as well?

      1. Zodiac. Schmodiac. It’s never in the stars, Gnash. They’re just colossal balls of glowing gas and all that other elemental stuff way deep down inside, Ptom. We’re all just cinders. Your know.

        1. L4D,….
          – I already know about “colossal balls of glowing gas” from reading some of your columns, reviews of JT’s columns, and your comments.😉

    2. And applying the “Ginsburg Rule” he can refuse to answer any question that deals with a hypothetical case that might come before him. Youcan thank Joe Biden for that.

  11. I had forgotten a major reason the fascist wants him on the court. Kavanaugh thinks the president is above the law.

    Apologies for not proof reading correctly, should have been None, not Non.

  12. Turley wrote, “However, [Kavanaugh] presents equal challenges for the Democrats who could undermine the election prospects for members in purple states for the midterm elections. He is the perfect wedge nominee for purple states.”

    Fascinating. The nomination ought not to be delayed until after the election because the nominee is the perfect splitting wedge for purple states. Truly fascinating.

  13. Kavanaugh is a right wing extremist, a member of the scum bag but powerful Federalist Society and reccomended by the Heritage (Koch traitor brothers) “think tank” and the Federalist Society, all one really needs to know about him. He supports religious wackos in their christian sharia. He supports big business and employers over employes. Like all of “the Don’s” right wing nominees, he should be rejected outright. Non of the fasict in chief’s nominees are worth a hearing and any and all should be refected. After all that was the repugthuglican way, was it not.

    Leonard Leo, an executive vice president of the Federalist Society, prepared a list of candidates for Supreme Court seats for Mr. Trump, and it has guided Mr. Trump’s choices. Gorsuch, who should have never been allowed on any bench in the land, came with a Federalist Society seal of approval; all four of the finalists this time are drawn from Mr. Leo’s list, which has grown to 25 names.

    The White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, is the president’s most influential in-house adviser. He, too, is a longtime member of the Federalist Society.

    During an interlude in private practice, Kavanaugh headed the Federalist Society’s Religious Liberties Practice Group and wrote two pro bono Supreme Court amicus briefs in support of the cause of religious liberty-to NOT be free from religious wackos.

    Real information, not from faux (not the) news.

    https://www.advocate.com/politics/2018/7/09/trump-nominates-brett-kavanaugh-supreme-court

    https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/07/trump-nominates-brett-kavanaugh-to-the-supreme-court/

    1. Excerpted from the article to which sgtsabai linked above:

      Kavanaugh seems likely to be a supporter of broad presidential powers. In 2011, the DC Circuit upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, in a prelude to what the Supreme Court would later do. In a dissent, Kavanaugh laid out a radical interpretation of the Constitution: that if the president takes issue with an existing law, he can simply declare it unconstitutional and refuse to enforce it. “Under the Constitution, the President may decline to enforce a statute that regulates private individuals when the President deems the statute unconstitutional,” Kavanaugh wrote, “even if a court has held or would hold the statute constitutional.”

      1. Yes, that is interesting. That is probably the core reason Trump picked him. Kavanaugh believes also, that the President should be above the law and not be open to criminal charges while in office. In other words, Trump can continue and once out of office-the sooner the better-spend a few hundred million of the loot he will make after riding the top job wave to tie things up in court, forever, for his own perverse amusement.

        1. Ignoring a grand jury subpoena, even with the Supreme Court’s blessing, might put a crimp in Trump’s reelection bid.

  14. Judge Thomas Hardiman may have been a better choice

    Brett needs a Secret Service Security detail assigned to him & his family ASAP. Democrat Senators are using their social media platforms to stir up trouble, protests & violence.

    1. TJ — Why would Hardiman be a better pick? I’m completely in the dark on all this.

      1. It’s Brett’s judgment paper trail vs. Thomas. Thomas has less & Brett has more.

  15. Kavanaugh shouldn’t be as alienating to women, independents and moderate Republicans as Amy Comy Barrett. I would have preferred Hardiman, however. Kavanaugh certainly has the requisite pedigree, but that’s the problem. He is a creature of the Beltway. He has lived his entire life in and around Washington, D.C. (save for the 7 years he spent at Yale College and Yale Law). Idealogically, he seems somewhere between Roberts and Alito. He’s basically what you would expect of someone of his socio-economic background (upper middle-class Irish Catholic; father a lawyer; mother a judge). I would have preferred someone with broader life experience.

    2. Tin, I agree. I guess you replace an Irishman w/ an Irishman. I would like to break the Ivy League monopoly, which other candidates would have done.

  17. As close to a constitutional centrist and moderate than I expected. I thought it a helpful sign the swing away from the courts pretending to be the legislative branch was continued without trying to run the pendulum clear over to the other side. The journey was long enough considering how far off track it had progressed. Th closing pun was actually written to add a serious note which only leaves a few more for this melody.

  18. The arguments put forth by the Left reflect a political view of the Supreme Court. Conservatism in Constitutional matters often center on what power belongs to which branch. In this context, policy lies with the executive and laws are passed by the legislature. Courts are expected to focus on constitutional and legal issues, not political ones. Then there is the issue of Federal vs. State power, where conservatives generally empower States in areas not specfiically assigned to the Federal government.

    By contrast, the Left has come to see SCOTUS as a kind of super wise and all powerful legislative-policy body willing to broadly impose national standards. Losing SCOTUS as an ally means having to work harder in Congress and the States, particularly when Republicans control the White House. This, I believe, is what the Left is afraid of.

    1. Good post Ozpaez. My takeaway from his comments last evening is he is opposed to the administrative state. For all those believing his support for the rule of law and separation of powers is a threat, they should be encouraged that Congress will be forced to craft better laws that are within their limited powers and that the President won’t have an ally in Judge k should the President exceed his authority.

    2. Black was initially KKK. Then, he became the most expansive first amendment advocate the court has seen.

        2. MEK is a terrorist organization in Iran. The next Middle East conflict Nastyahoo wants to draw us into.

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