Thread by @axidentaliberal

Torture and Perjury:

Imagine if a sitting Supreme Court Justice was involved in discussions about whether the US can imprison people

Without a trial

Without lawyers

And torture them-

And then lied about it

During his own confirmation hearing

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When Brett Kavanaugh was nominated to become a judge in 2006, he was asked about his work in the Bush administration. Specifically he was questioned about the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. He said he was “not involved in the questions about..detention of combatants.”

Problem is, a year later it came out that he WAS involved in some of these arguments.

How did we get here?

chicagotribune.com/news/nationwor…

Back in 2002, Kavanaugh worked for the Bush White House.

Since this was right after the 9/11 terrorist attack, the Bush administration had to formulate a policy on what how to treat al-Qaida terrorists involved in the deadly plot.

american.edu/spa/news/presi…

Officials began imprisoning people at Guantanamo Bay, but wrestled with the question:

What do we do with them?

Some lawyers argued they could be held indefinitely-with no hearings and no lawyers

That’s ultimately what the White House did.

lawfareblog.com/guantanamo-lit…

During this time Kavanaugh was asked what SCOTUS Justice Kennedy would do; he used to clerk for Kennedy. Reportedly Kavanaugh said Kennedy wouldn’t agree with the policy

But the fact that this conversation occurred came out A YEAR AFTER HE WAS CONFIRMED

theatlantic.com/politics/archi…

Senators Durbin and Leahy were livid about the revelation. Durbin sent Kavanaugh a letter asking him to explain the discrepancy.

Kavanaugh never did.

dailykos.com/story/2018/7/1…

Leahy went further. He referred Kavanaugh for investigation by the Attorney General’s office to determine if Kavanaugh committed perjury. They decided not to pursue it.

politico.com/story/2018/08/…

This is all EXTREMELY troubling. Kavanaugh clearly knew about plans to hold prisoners-including American citizens-without any trial and without the right to counsel.

These are basic rights inscribed in the Constitution.

And he clearly obfuscated.

nytimes.com/2007/07/04/was…

But it gets worse.

In 2004, Kavanaugh was still at the White House when the infamous Torture Memo was released.

This formed the basis for the Attorney General claiming that US officials could torture-yes, torture-Guantanamo detainees.

nytimes.com/ref/internatio…?

There is no evidence to this point that Kavanaugh participated in discussions about torturing detainees. And he denies knowing about it before it went public. But he WAS listed on an email regarding the PR strategy of how to address the memo.

thehill.com/homenews/senat…

So we know he was made aware of how the White House intended to insist that it never considered torturing prisoners.

Despite the fact that its AG found it legal to do so, and they wrote legal opinions about torture.

newrepublic.com/article/150301…

We also know that during the Bush administration prisoners were tortured at both Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib.

Now, this may not have involved Kavanaugh at all.

But there is a claim of Executive Privilege to prevent releasing 100,000 documents.

Why?

nytimes.com/2018/09/01/us/…

Don’t the American people have the right to know if a man being considered for a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land was involved in discussions about whether we could, or should, torture people?

nytimes.com/2018/07/29/us/…

This is no abstract discussion: IT HAPPENED.

And Kavanaugh was PART OF THE ADMINISTRATION RESPONSIBLE.

That he was there, in a high level position, is concerning.

But BEFORE we put him on the Supreme Court, we need to know if he was involved or not.

abajournal.com/news/article/d…

The current president thought nothing of putting children in cages.

He constantly says things that subvert the rule of law.

He also once opined that we should not only torture suspected terrorists, but attack their FAMILIES as well.

msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-…

Please. Call your senators.

Tell them to postpone this confirmation hearing until the entire record is released.

Because we need to know where Kavanaugh stands.

We cannot give any imprimatur to torture.

Never give up. Never give in.

Always #resist

#LawyersResist #L4GG

Addendum: Sen Booker published memos that show Kavanaugh championed Jay Bybee and John Yoo for appointments as federal judges.

They wrote memos justifying torture of prisoners at Guantanamo.

How closely is Kavanaugh tied to them and their work?

https://twitter.com/corybooker/status/1037785191874547712?s=21