Here’s Sen. Kennedy, talking with Kavanaugh’s wife, Ashley, in advance of Day Two.pic.twitter.com/a5bi3ldIrw
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Here’s Sen. Kennedy, talking with Kavanaugh’s wife, Ashley, in advance of Day Two.pic.twitter.com/a5bi3ldIrw
Five people in a row, one by one, just interrupted the hearing, and were taken out one by one.
Here are three of the people taken out of the hearing this morning.pic.twitter.com/ntwdaRQuny
Grassley has begun his 30 minutes of questions, but two more people in the audience have interrupted the hearing, and been swiftly escorted out. There are more than a dozen capitol police standing around the back of the hearing room, basically just waiting.
Three more protesters taken out since then.
"Please tell us what judicial independence means to you," Grassley asks. Kavanaugh: "No one is above the law in our constitutional system."
About a half-dozen more people have been removed from the hearing. The public seats are currently left empty.
After talking about Youngstown Steel, dissents in Korematsu, and US v. Nixon, Kavanaugh discusses Hamdan. Here's more on his ruling there:https://www.lawfareblog.com/kavanaugh-and-military-commissions-reading-law-written-unpopular-defendant …
New people were brought in to the public seats, many showed that they had "DISSENT" written on their hands as they walked in. Several have since spoken out and been removed.
"My personal beliefs are not relevant to how I rule in cases," Kavanaugh says, when asked by Grassley about precedent and if he's ruled against his personal views. "Reliance interests are extremely important to consider" in addressing precedent.
Will be interesting to see if this comes up in the coming days:https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller/status/1037339038561325056 …
Talking about judicial independence also means being an independent nominee, Kavanaugh says. - "Litigants have to know we have an open mind." - Says he doesn't want to appear to be agreeing with certain decisions in exchange for votes from senators, citing Roberts' confirmation.
Feinstein is up, she starts with guns.
Talking about his DC assault weapons ban opinion dissent. "Are they dangerous and unusual?" Kavanaugh asks, of semiautomatic weapons, saying that all weapons are dangerous, but that they aren't unusual. Opinion: https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/DECA496973477C748525791F004D84F9/$file/10-7036-1333156.pdf …
Feinstein moves on to abortion. Asks about what Kavanaugh means by "settled law." Is it "settled precedent" and can it be overruled? Kavanaugh says it deserves "respect under principles of stare decisis."
Kavanaugh notes that Roe "has been reaffirmed many times ... most importantly in Planned Parenthood v Casey." Kavanaugh: "I understand the importance of the issue. ... I don't live in a bubble. I live in the real world."
Kavanaugh: "Planned Parenthood v. Casey reaffirmed Roe. ... Casey now becomes a precedent-on-precedent [because] it applied the stare decisis factors and reaffirmed it."
Kavanaugh: "It is an important precedent of the Supreme Court. ... I understand the significance of the issue, as a jurisprudential issue ... and the real-world effects of the issue."
Now, we've moved on to Kavanaugh's views on whether presidents should be investigated.
Kavanaugh talks about his views, and the fact that they were recommended congressional actions. What led to his change from the Starr era to his post-Bush service. "Sept. 11th," Kavanaugh says.
"They were not my constitutional views. ... I've never taken a view on the constitutional question," Kavanaugh says, noting that he was giving views on what Congress could do.
Of the claim that he thinks Nixon could have been wrongly decided, Kavanaugh says: "That quote is not in context and is a misunderstanding of my position."
Feinstein: "Can a sitting president have to respond to a subpoena?" Kavanaugh: "As a sitting judge and a nominee ... I can't give you an answer to a hypothetical."
Hatch is up. Asked if he'd owe his loyalty to the president or the people, Kavanaugh says, "I owe my loyalty to the Constitution."
Kavanaugh is asked about the torture report. He talks about the "enhanced interrogation" program. "I was not involved — I was not read into that program," noting that he was not involved in the program or legal memos underlying it.
Asked about detention policies and whether he misled the committee back in 2006 during his DC Circuit hearing. "I told the truth, the whole truth," he said. "I was not read into that program."
Asked about women in the law and clerks, Kavanuagh says, "There's a pipeline problem." "What it takes is just not accepting the same-old answer," he says. He says, "I try to figure out why, and then do something about it."
Hatch asks about Kozinski, saying suggestions that Kavanaugh would have known about the allegations against Kozinski "an effort at 'guilt by association.'"
Kavanaugh notes that Kozinski led Kennedy's clerkship hiring process and that Kavanaugh had thus been involved in communications with him through that. Says he didn't know about the allegations until the Post report.
Kavanaugh, on Kozinski sexual harassment news: "It was a gut punch. It was a gut punch to me. It was a gut punch to the judiciary. I was shocked and disappointed. Angry. No woman should be subject to sexual harassment in the workplace."
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