One of Democrats' concerns about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is that he would let President Trump skirt above the law. Some of Kavanaugh's past writings show that he believes a sitting president should not be subjected to investigations. That should wait until after he or she leaves office. But, Democrats point out, he had a different opinion when Bill Clinton was president. During the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Kavanaugh was all about pursuing answers about the president's conduct. The senators wanted to know what changed.
What changed, Kavanaugh said, was the September 11 terror attacks. The country was at war and he thought President George W. Bush should be shielded from controversy while trying to perform his duties.
Kavanaugh says that September 11 changed his perspective on the power of the presidency, and persuaded him the president should be above any sort of investigation that might interfere with their duties pic.twitter.com/zZVF5NqF1q
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 5, 2018
"Seeing President Bush when he came into the Oval Office on September 12, 2001 in the morning," Kavanaugh reflected. "President Bush said this will not happen again. He was of single minded focus every morning for the next seven years."
His answer did not placate Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). On Sunday, she told an audience at the Year of the Woman luncheon in Santa Barbara that Trump likes to hold himself “above the law,” and Kavanaugh would go right along with it. He believes Trump is an "oligarch."
“The president believes he is above the law," she said. "And this nominee believes this president cannot be investigated, cannot be tried.”
Feinstein added that if moderate Republican Sens. Susan Collins (ME) and Lisa Murkowski (AK) don't come through and vote against the nominee, he will be confirmed.
Other Democrats have pointed out that Kavanaugh once questioned the court ruling in Nixon vs. United States. But, the nominee debunked that theory at last week's hearings too, noting that he has called that court case one of the most important in history.