Kavanaugh In 2002: Campaign Contribution Limits ‘Have Some Constitutional Problems’

WASHINGTON - JUNE 01: (AFP OUT) Brett Kavanaugh (L) speaks as U.S. President George W. Bush (R) looks on during a ceremony of Kavanaugh to be sworn in as a judge to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Distric... WASHINGTON - JUNE 01: (AFP OUT) Brett Kavanaugh (L) speaks as U.S. President George W. Bush (R) looks on during a ceremony of Kavanaugh to be sworn in as a judge to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia at the Rose Garden of the White House June 1, 2006 in Washington, DC. Kavanaugh was confirmed by the Senate with a vote of 57 to 36. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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While working in former President George W. Bush’s White House, current Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh told a colleague that he believed campaign contribution limits “have some constitutional problems,” CNN reported Saturday.

Though much of the United States’ campaign finance laws and regulations have been undone in recent years, limits on direct contributions to campaigns and campaign committees — currently $2,700 per person per election — are still the law. Various limits govern donations between PACs and state and local committees, as well.

“I have heard very few people say that the limits on contributions to candidates are unconstitutional, although I for one tend to think those limits have some constitutional problems,” Kavanaugh wrote to his Bush White House colleague Helgard Walker in a March 6, 2002, email, CNN reported.

Despite Democrats’ complaints that Republicans have failed to request Kavanaugh’s documents from his time as White House staff secretary during the Bush years, the nominee’s first hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee is set for Tuesday.

The Trump administration cited executive privilege in withholding 100,000 Kavanaugh documents from the public on Friday; Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called it a “Friday night document massacre.”

Kavanaugh’s campaign finance email was one of the documents released publicly Friday. It was previously known to Judiciary Committee members, but was marked “Committee Confidential,” CNN noted.  Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) successfully requested that committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) release the document, CNN reported citing a release from the Judiciary Committee.

“I think that you could ask some very interesting questions about these documents that I’m unable to even say,” Klobuchar said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday, referring to the documents that remain confidential.

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Notable Replies

  1. “I have heard very few people say that the limits on contributions to candidates are unconstitutional, although I for one tend to think those limits have some constitutional problems,” Kavanaugh wrote to his Bush White House colleague Helgard Walker in a March 6, 2002, email, CNN reported.

  2. The Trump administration cited executive privilege in withholding 100,000 Kavanaugh documents from the public on Friday; Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called it a “Friday night document massacre.”

    well that concept is whatever the majority thinks that it should be.

  3. Avatar for caltg caltg says:

    Whatever happened to all the “transparency” tha Trump and all his Repuglican shills touted during the campaign?

    I know, it was all lies, just like everything else that comes out of their mouths.

  4. Whatever happened to all the “transparency” tha Trump and all his Repuglican shills touted…

    In reactionary speak, ‘transparency’ refers only to information from ongoing criminal investigations that might implicate the presidency and DNC internal communications which can be revealed through third party cut outs.

  5. Avatar for jtx jtx says:

    As long as money is free speech and the right to vote isn’t we have a major problem.

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