Senate Democrats on Thursday threatened to sue the National Archives unless the federal repository of documents releases millions of papers from Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s background.
“The very fact that a lawsuit may be necessary to see Judge Kavanaugh’s full record shows just how far Republicans are willing to go to keep it secret,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in a letter. “While I have not given up hope that the FOIA request will be honored, we stand ready to use every means necessary so Americans can have access to the information they deserve.”
Democrats sent the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request this month to demand millions of documents from Kavanaugh’s tenure as a staff secretary for President George W. Bush’s White House. Already, Republicans were prepared to provide millions of documents from his time there.
New York Democrat Schumer said Democrats need to see as many as four million pages before they can decide on whether to approve Kavanaugh to the bench of the high court. And, as usual, Schumer blamed the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell.
“We would much rather follow the bipartisan process that’s been around for years. Mitch McConnell is tearing down all of the bipartisan parts of approving judicial nominees,” Schumer said. “With this suit, we can finally shine some light on Kavanaugh’s record,” he added.
Three senior Democrats released a letter they’ve written to the National Archives threatening to sue if their FOIA is denied. The letter is signed by Schumer, along with Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).
“We firmly believe that Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination cannot be considered unless these documents are available, including to the public and the Senate as a whole,” the letter read.
We request that the National Archives and Records Administration produce the following records:
1. Records from Mr. Kavanaugh’s service as a Senior Associate Counsel to the President, including all records preserved in his staff files, and those records created by Mr. Kavanaugh that can readily be found in the files of other White House staff members, the White House Counsel’s Office files, other White House offices’ files, and the Subject Matter Files maintained by the Staff Secretary and/or the White House Office of Records Management;
2. Records from Mr. Kavanaugh’s service as Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary, including all records preserved in his staff files, and those records created by Mr. Kavanaugh that can readily be found in the files of other White House staff members, the White House Counsel’s Office files, other White House offices’ files, and the Subject Matter Files maintained by the Staff Secretary and/or the White House Office of Records Management;
3. Records relating to Mr. Kavanaugh’s nomination to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit;
4. All electronic mail to, from, carbon copying (cc’ing), or blind carbon copying (bcc’ing) Mr. Kavanaugh in his White House tenure, including any documents attached to such emails;
5. To the extent they are not included in response to categories (1) through (4), all records containing documents written by, edited by, prepared in whole or part by, under the supervision of, or at the direction of Mr. Kavanaugh, as well as documents referencing Mr. Kavanaugh by name, initials, or title, and documents received by or sent to him.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the committee has already received some 250,000 pages of documents from Kavanaugh’s stint in the Bush administration.
“Unfortunately, some have tried to criticize what is the most transparent confirmation process in history. But they’re failing. And they’re failing because Democratic leaders have made their true goal obvious: Stall the confirmation as long as possible,” Grassley said.
Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing is scheduled for September 4.