Brett Kavanaugh: Trump Supreme Court justice pick begins tough confirmation fight

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The tough fight to confirm Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, has started with the judge visiting Capitol Hill to try and rally support as Democrats look to tear into record and stop him taking the bench.

Mr Kavanaugh joined Vice President Mike Pence in Congress to meet with key Republican senators, with Mr Pence reiterating Mr Trump’s sentiments from his speech the night prior by calling Mr Kavanaugh the “most qualified and the most deserving nominee to the Supreme Court.”

Mr Kavanaugh and Mr Pence met with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has said Mr Kavanaugh was a “superb” Supreme Court pick, the AP reports. He called for senators to give the nominee “the fairness, respect, and seriousness that a Supreme Court nomination ought to command.”

Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa also met with Mr Kavanaugh on Capitol Hill and promised the confirmation process was “going to be thorough and going to be done right.“

Mr Kavanaugh, a conservative judge from the US Court of Appeals for the Washington DC Circuit, worked for former President George W. Bush as his legal counsel and later as his staff secretary before he was nominated and appointed to his current position. Mr Kavanaugh notably had a role in the Bill Clinton investigation led by independent counsel Kenneth Starr and which eventually led to Clinton's impeachment.

“Honoured to be able to bring Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Capitol and begin the important work the Senate will do considering this good man and Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court,” Mr Pence wrote on Twitter

A number of senate Democrats have already publicly stated their opposition to Mr Kavanaugh. Many top Democrats fear the nominee’s confirmation will eventually overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that recognised the right to have an abortion.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also took the opportunity on Tuesday to link the confirmation to the investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign and any possible links to the Trump campaign. Mr Schumer said that Mr Trump chose Brett Mr Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court because Mr Kavanaugh would protect Trump from the Russia probe.

Mr Kavanaugh wrote in a 2009 Minnesota Law Review article that it would be appropriate for Congress to enact a statute that would allow civil lawsuits against a sitting president to be deferred until the president's term ends. He said Congress should consider doing the same with “respect to criminal investigations and prosecutions of the president.”

Mr Kavanaugh came to that conclusion after working on independent counsel Mr Starr's team. Mr Schumer said he had one question to ask: “Mr. Kavanaugh: Is the president above the law?”

Although Republicans currently control a majority in the chamber, with Arizona Senator John McCain’s continued absence from Washington as he receives treatment for brain cancer it is narrow lead of 50 seats to 49. One Republican could block the nominee’s confirmation should Democrats vote as a unified opposition.

“Brett Kavanaugh's record as a judge and lawyer is clear: hostile to health care for millions, opposed to the CFPB & corporate accountability, thinks Presidents like Trump are above the law – and conservatives are confident that he would overturn Roe v. Wade,” Massachusetts Senator Democrat Elizabeth Warren wrote on Twitter. “I'll be voting no.”