Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has said in the past that Presidents have the right not to enforce laws they believe are unconstitutional.
CNN on Monday collected a series of assertions along those lines from Kavanaugh, including during a 2013 Q&A session at Case Western Reserve Law School.
Responding to a questioner who asked about signing statements, or presidential statements made when signing a bill into law, Kavanaugh said that if a president “says these certain provisions in here are unconstitutional, and we’re not going to follow those provisions, that is a traditional exercise of power by presidents.”
“If the President has a constitutional objection to a statutory mandate or prohibition, the President may decline to follow the law unless and until a final Court order dictates otherwise,” Kavanaugh said in an opinion the same year.
Republicans have requested documents related to Kavanaugh’s time in the White House counsel’s office during George W. Bush’s presidency, but not his time as staff secretary under the same president, despite Democrats’ protests.
While many presidents issue signing statements — President Donald Trump issued an angry one when he signed sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea into law last summer — Bush used them with more regularity, and a broader view of executive power, CNN noted.
“Understanding the nature of his involvement in those actions is absolutely critical to evaluating the type of justice he would be on the bench,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told CNN. “If Republicans continue to stonewall, the American people will wonder what they are hiding.”
Watch below:
Read CNN’s full report here.
This is absurd. Congress is a co-equal branch of government, but according to Kavanaugh, everything they pass is basically discretionary, depending upon the whims of the President. And SCOTUS will have to be called in -potentially on every bill - to referee. Seems a bit too close to a monarch for comfort. Especially when the king is insane.
How does this comport with the President’s oath and obligation to “faithfully enforce the laws?”
This position alone should disqualify Kavanaugh. It is the courts’ job, and particularly the Supreme Court’s job to determine the constitutionality of any law passed by Congress, it is not the President’s job! The President may sign or veto a bill passed by Congress, his is not to pull it apart on allegedly Constitutional grounds.
I’ve learned just enough about ConLaw – just enough-- to know this fucker is crazy.
LOLOLOL
The American people know exactly what the Republicans are hiding. And that which is being hidden is exactly what the Republican (legislative) majority want on the bench at every level. And the Republicans have no shame to be called upon to make them behave any differently.
Oh please, If the president has a constitutional objection, he vetoes the damn bill. Or he enforces it (or not, even) until a challenge comes up through the courts. This I learned in 8th grade Civics class. See, this Supreme Courting thing isn’t that hard. Until the stupid kicks in.