There’s been some writing about Sen. Cory Booker’s stance against Drumpf’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. This article I read today, however, goes much further and also covers the press conference on Wednesday where Booker went in to great detail. Note that Booker is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and it appears that he’s taken the lead in opposing Kavanaugh’s nomination (with plenty of good reason).
New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker sent a letter to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh Friday asking the judge to pledge to recuse himself from “any case that pertains to the special counsel’s investigation or that otherwise may immediately impact the President and his associates as it relates to the ongoing criminal investigation.” [In the letter] Booker said his concern is based on past comments Kavanaugh made indicating that he believes “a sitting President cannot be criminally indicted, or even be investigated.”
“This is a unique situation: President Trump could effectively be choosing his own judge, contrary to basic principles of the rule of law. Your recusal would eliminate that possibility,” Booker wrote.
On Wednesday, Booker held a press conference to discuss a video that emerged of Kavanaugh speaking at an event in 2016 where he said he would “put the final nail in” a 1988 Supreme Court ruling that upheld the constitutionality of provisions that created an independent counsel. Kavanaugh identified that case when asked if he could name one that he believed should be overturned.
“There are a number of issues related to Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation that may ultimately end up before the Supreme Court, including whether the President can pardon himself, whether a sitting President can be criminally indicted, whether a President can end a criminal investigation into his own conduct, whether the President can refuse to comply with a subpoena, whether the President can personally fire a Special Counsel, whether the President can interfere in the investigation by replacing the Deputy Attorney General, or whether a Special Counsel can investigate a sitting President, among other questions,” wrote Booker.
Read the rest of this informative, detailed article here, including Booker’s pointing out that Trump demands loyalty from his appointees and mention of other possible nominees who didn’t make the cut for some reason, etc.:
Booker asks Kavanaugh to promise to recuse himself from cases involving Trump if he makes it to the Supreme Court