Trump Nominates “Deep State” GOP Insider for SCOTUS

Supreme Court nominee Judge Brent Kavanaugh, is a jurist on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, was nominated to that position by then-POTUS George W. Bush in 2003, and approved by the Senate in a 57-36 vote May 2006.

Since then, he has become the 45th President’s nominee to replace the senior Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who announced his retirement effective 31 July 2018.

Most notably, Judge Kavanaugh was Justice Kennedy’s Law Clerk during the October Term 1993, so the two men most definitely have a relationship. Law clerks are typically hired by the judge for whom they work, and the D.C. circuit is viewed as a type of “preparatory” for the Supreme Court (SCOTUS).

White House news Correspondent for NBC Geoff R. Bennett (Twitter: @GeoffRBennett) Tweeted early yesterday morning (4:16AM 10 July) that “Source familiar tells NBC that Justice Kennedy had been in negotiations with the Trump team for months over Kennedy’s replacement. Once Kennedy received assurances that it would be Kavanaugh (his former law clerk) Kennedy felt comfortable retiring – @LACaldwellDC & @frankthorp.”

Mr. Bennett’s Tweet was essentially reiterated in a later Tweet by NBC Capitol Hill Reporter Leigh Ann Caldwell‏ which suggested that at least one unnamed reliable source close to the White House knew in advance that Justice Kennedy and the POTUS had communicated in some way to get Judge Kavanaugh on the “short list” of potential nominees.

Ms. Caldwell deleted her original Tweet which was posted 7:14AM 10 July, but posted a screen shot of it in a later Tweet and wrote that she had done so “because it incorrectly implies a transactional nature in Kennedy’s replacement.” Her replacement Tweet stated: “To be clear: This is from one source and dont have any info on whether potus talked to kennedy about a possible replacement.” -and in a followup Tweet- “Furthermore, the five names Trump added to his list of Federalist Approved judges last November was to get Kavanaugh on that list. The other four names were considered cover, per source. In other words: the decision has been baked for a while:”

She additionally noted that Politico had also covered the story.

Presidential adviser Karl Rove (LEFT), with Brett Kavanaugh in 2004. At the time, Mr. Kavanaugh was Staff Secretary in the G.W. Bush White House.

Given Judge Kavanaugh’s bona fides as a G.W. Bush insider, and a Yale Law School graduate (the SCOTUS is comprised of justices from only Harvard Law and Yale), it certainly seems a limiting choice, and a deeply suspicious one for those two reasons, at least.

Chief Justice John Roberts – Harvard Law
Anthony Kennedy – Harvard Law
Clarence Thomas – Yale Law
Ruth Bader Ginsburg – Harvard Law
Stephen Breyer – Harvard Law
Samuel Alito – Yale Law
Sonia Sotomayor – Yale Law
Elena Kagan – Harvard Law
Neil Gorsuch – Harvard Law

Equally disconcerting is his questionable testimony when he was previously before the Senate Judiciary Committee when he was nominated to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, in which he testified that he had no role in a Bush administration meeting discussing a matter of legal representation for enemy combatants which were American citizens, despite public evidence to the contrary.

Another matter of concern are his opinions as expressed in an article published in the Minnesota Law Review in 2009 entitled “Separation of Powers During the Forty-Fourth Presidency and Beyond,” in which he opined and enumerated several areas which he found concerning in American jurisprudence, among them:

• Impeachment, and whether perjury and obstruction of justice in a civil sexual harassment case and subsequent criminal investigation can constitute high crimes and misdemeanors justifying removal of a President;

• The independent counsel law, concerning both the statute itself and independent counsel Kenneth Starr’s exercise of his investigative and prosecutorial authority;

• Executive privilege, primarily whether government attorneys and Secret Service agents enjoy a privilege in federal criminal investigations of the President;

• Presidential immunity, particularly whether the President has the right to a temporary deferral of civil suits while in office, an issue the Supreme Court addressed in Clinton v. Jones;

•The pardon power, most notably whether President Clinton properly used that power when he pardoned certain people at the end of his presidency;

• The President’s control over executive branch personnel, particularly President Clinton’s decision shortly after taking office to fire all ninety-three United States Attorneys in one fell swoop;

• The President’s ability to obtain votes for his federal judicial nominees, as large numbers of Clinton judicial nominees never received an up-or-down vote in the Senate.

Readers should understand also, that Judge Kavanaugh, then Mr. Kavanaugh, participated in the Kenneth Starr investigation into then-POTUS Clinton. That investigation lasted most of both POTUS Clinton’s successive 4-year terms.

What is ironic, is that many of these questions are ones that DIRECTLY affect the current, 45th POTUS, insofar as he has pardoned individuals whom were adjudicated and/or plead guilty to various Federal charges, including actions stemming from racism, fraud, and obstruction of justice for well-known individuals, notable among them, Joe Arpaio, then-Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, and Dinesh D’Souza.

Others have raised concerns about POTUS’s possible involvement in, or knowledge of treasonous acts by a foreign government (Russia) directly aimed at benefiting him, and disrupting American government, which are being investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, a conservative Republican, and the second-longest serving FBI Director since J. Edgar Hoover.

So it certainly seems as if the POTUS is dipping into the “Deep State” for his own benefit, despite what he has earlier asserted and publicly claimed.