House Democrats Are Coming For Brett Kavanaugh

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee asked the National Archives Tuesday to release documents from Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s service in the George W. Bush White House.

The request tracks Democratic promises to scrutinize Kavanaugh even after his confirmation to the Supreme Court.

“The Senate Judiciary Committee received only a small fraction of Justice Kavanaugh’s White House records before voting on his nomination,” Democratic Reps. Jerry Nadler of California and Henry Johnson of Georgia wrote in a letter to the Archives. Nadler chairs the Judiciary Committee, while Johnson leads a subcommittee that oversees the federal bench.

“Now and as always, the Court’s fidelity to the principles of equal and impartial justice, as well as the public’s faith in the integrity of the judiciary, are foundational to maintaining the rule of law,” the pair wrote elsewhere.

Kavanaugh held two positions in the Bush administration. From 2001 to 2003 he was a lawyer in the White House counsel’s office. Thereafter, he served as staff secretary until his confirmation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 2006. The National Archives has processed records from Kavanaugh’s tenure as White House counsel, according to the Nadler-Johnson letter. Additional items will be available pursuant to the Presidential Records Act beginning in 2021.