Feinstein grills Kavanaugh on gun control, presidential powers

Sept. 05--Sen. Dianne Feinstein grilled Trump Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh Wednesday on his views on gun control and abortion rights, and he declined to answer a question from her about whether the president could be subpoenaed.

Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee and the first Democrat to question Kavanaugh, pressed the nominee on questions of presidential powers -- a key issue as President Trump faces increasing legal scrutiny.

Kavanaugh worked on the independent counsel investigation of former President Bill Clinton in the '90s, when he advocated for aggressive and sexually graphic questioning of Clinton about his affair with a White House intern. But years later, after working in the George W. Bush White House, Kavanaugh had a change of heart, writing in a law review article that presidents should be protected from civil lawsuits or criminal investigations while they're in office.

During the hearing, Feinstein pressed him to explain why his opinion had changed.

"What changed was September 11," Kavanaugh said, explaining how seeing Bush's response in the days following the attack convinced him that presidents shouldn't have to deal with distractions like lawsuits or prosecutions against them.

He also said that the stance he took in the law review article represented "ideas for Congress to consider, they were not my constitutional views."

Still, he avoided answering one of Feinstein's most important questions.

"Can a sitting president be required to respond to a subpoena?" Feinstein asked.

"I can't give you an answer on that hypothetical question," Kavanaugh responded, citing the typical practice of Supreme Court nominees not to comment on legal issues that could come up in cases before them.

Feinstein also drilled into Kavanaugh's views on gun control, focusing on his 2011 dissent in an appeals court decision upholding Washington, D.C.'s ban on assault weapons. In the opinion, Kavanaugh argued that semiautomatic rifles couldn't be banned because they didn't fit the definition of "dangerous and unusual" weapons.

"Semiautomatic rifles are widely possessed in the United States, there are millions and millions and millions of semiautomatic rifles that are possessed," Kavanaugh said. "So that seemed to fit common use and not being a dangerous and unusual weapon."

Feinstein replied, incredulous, that "it's not common storage or possession, it's common use."

"All weapons are dangerous," Kavanaugh said, but argued that they aren't "unusual."

"I don't get to pick and choose which Supreme Court precedents I get to follow," he added. "I follow them all."

On one of the most crucial decisions in the debate over Kavanaugh's nomination, the Roe v. Wade decision protecting abortion rights, Feinstein pushed Kavanaugh on whether he believed the case was correctly decided. Before abortion was legal, "a lot of women died in that period," Feinstein said. "I don't want to go back to those death tolls."

Kavanaugh avoided saying specifically whether he believed the decision was correct, but called it an "important precedent of the Supreme Court that's been reaffirmed many times."

"I understand your point of view on that and I understand how passionately and deeply people feel about the issue," Kavanaugh told Feinstein. "I don't live in a bubble."

He also said previously reported comments he made on a panel discussion where he appeared to question U.S. v. Nixon, a landmark case ordering the Nixon White House to hand over tapes and other materials, were taken out of context. Kavanaugh said Wednesday he believed the decision was correctly decided and that "U.S. v. Nixon is one of the four greatest moments in Supreme Court history."

Sen. Kamala Harris, who led other Democrats in interrupting committee proceedings on Tuesday, is expected to question Kavanaugh this evening.

While it appears likely Republicans have the votes to confirm him, Democrats are holding on to hope of swaying at least two pro-choice GOP senators.

___

(c)2018 the Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.)

Visit the Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.) at www.eastbaytimes.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.