Sen. Booker Says Trump’s Supreme Court Pick ‘Should Be Rejected’

Here’s what U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey thinks about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh after getting a chance to meet him in person: “His nomination should be rejected.”

That’s the conclusion that Booker reached Thursday after a face-to-face meeting with President Trump’s pick to replace U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. During the sit-down, Booker – the former mayor of Newark – spoke with the potential SCOTUS judge about Roe v. Wade and investigating President Trump for what he called “obvious impropriety.”

Booker said that he wasn't thrilled with the answers he got.

“After meeting with Brett Kavanaugh today, my concerns with his nomination to the Supreme Court have only grown,” Booker wrote. “His nomination should be rejected.” (Read the senator’s full statement below)

Booker, a member of the Democratic party, is on the Senate Judiciary Committee that will hold hearings on Kavanaugh next month.

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New Jersey’s senior U.S. Senator, Bob Menendez, also a Democrat, has also gone on record against Kavanaugh’s nomination to the SCOTUS.

Menendez wrote in July:

“With Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination, it’s clear that President Trump stuck to the litmus test he laid out when he pledged to only choose Supreme Court nominees who believe that Roe v. Wade should be overturned and abortion be made illegal in this country. As a member of the United States Senate, I take my constitutional responsibility to advise and consent seriously, just as I take my responsibility to defend the interests and ideals of New Jersey families seriously. I cannot support a nominee culled from the rightwing wish lists of the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society. We need a Justice who will follow the rule of law not the rule of Trump, especially when the future of reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, voting rights, workers’ rights, and the civil rights of all Americans are on the line.”

Kavanaugh 53, a federal appeals court judge who was a former aide to President George W. Bush, has a conservative record, top qualifications and deep connections with Republican legal groups, The New York Times reported.

When Bush nominated him 15 years ago to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Democrats balked, saying he was too biased in favor of Republicans. He faced a tough confirmation hearing and was ultimately confirmed three years later.

Before that, Kavanaugh led the investigation that eventually resulted in President Bill Clinton's impeachment. He was a lead author of the Starr Report, an investigative account of Clinton by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr that was released on Sept. 11, 1998.

His nomination has gained support from high-profile elected officials such as U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky), who said that “each nominee must be judged on the totality of their views character and opinions,” and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who wrote that Kavanaugh is “an exceptionally-qualified jurist who will be a fair and impartial arbiter of the law and will not legislate from the bench.”

• See related article: Judge Brett Kavanaugh Is Trump's Pick For Supreme Court

BOOKER MEETS KAVANAUGH, URGES ‘REJECTION’

Sen. Cory Booker released the below statement on Aug. 23 after meeting with Kavanaugh:

“After meeting with Brett Kavanaugh today, my concerns with his nomination to the Supreme Court have only grown.

“Judge Kavanaugh was unable to assure me that he believes Roe v. Wade is correctly decided Supreme Court precedent, which further reinforces that his confirmation would be a direct threat to a woman’s right to make her own medical decisions.

“And Judge Kavanaugh refused to commit to recusing himself from matters stemming from Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation, despite the obvious impropriety of this President – who is effectively an unindicted co-conspirator in a criminal investigation – naming a justice to the court who has already reached the legal conclusion that a sitting president should not be investigated or indicted while in office.

“At a moment in history when the president has been directly implicated in a federal crime, the Senate should not be acting to advance the confirmation of a Supreme Court justice who could ultimately rule to shield President Trump from accountability.

“Our country is founded on the principle that there are three separate but co-equal branches of government that check and balance one another. It’s clearer than ever that Judge Kavanaugh will not be an independent check on this president.

“His nomination should be rejected.”

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Photo 1: YouTube / Senator Cory Booker

Photo 2: Shutterstock (Brett Kavanaugh)

With previous reporting by Daniel Hampton, Patch Staff