—
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was strongly advocating that Brett Kavanaugh’s Background check should be re-open, given the new information on his character and background.
Chris Hayes asked, can the FBI do that, without a Presidential Directive, without any Federal Crime alleged, still within the statute of Limitations?
Senator Gillibrand replied authoritatively that, they sure can, that’s what they do — the FBI does the Background checks on any and all nominees for Federal Judgeship, including the Supreme Court Nominees.
It’s standard operating procedure ...
You & The Law: How the United States selects federal judges
DUNAHOE LAW FIRM, LLC
[...]
When there is a vacancy in a federal
judgeship, the president nominates
someone to fill that spot. Recommen-
dations can come from members of
Congress, other judges, and lawyers
and other people or groups support-
ive of a particular candidate.
Once the president considers pro-
spective nominations and makes
a decision on appointment, that
individual’s name is forwarded to the
Senate Judiciary Committee.
The committee gathers information
about the nominee’s qualifications,
including previous judicial decisions
if the nominee was a judge on
another court. The FBI also does a
background check.
The American Bar Association
Standing Committee on the Judicia-
ry evaluates all prospective nomi-
nees for judicial appointment and
reports to the president and the
Senate Judiciary Committee on the
candidate’s professional qualifica-
tions of integrity, professional com-
petence and judicial temperament.
[...]
I found this reference that back-ups Senator Gillibrand statement on the FBI’s relevance and responsibility in these cases.
It’s what they do. The FBI does the Background Checks on any and all nominees for Federal Judgeship.
If they got it wrong, shouldn’t they take the time to get it Right — no matter what Republican hypocrites, might say to rush their Nominee through some sham process? An ultra conservative by the way, who’s sure to take his personal lack of respect for Women’s rights and autonomy, to the highest court of the land for over a generation — if the FBI fails to do their sworn duty in this disturbing matter.
Re-open the Background check on Brett Kavanaugh. It’s not optional.
— — —
If you have more definitive references to substantiate this SOP responsibility of the FBI — please post the links in the comments. Thanks.