Kavanaugh receives praise; Watergate lawyer calls nomination ‘troubling’

WASHINGTON — Judge Brett Kavanaugh was described by students, clerks and colleagues Friday as well respected and highly qualified for the Supreme Court, but a lawyer who served prison time for his role in the Watergate scandal called the nomination “deeply troubling.”

John Dean, the former White House counsel under President Richard Nixon, told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday that the Kavanaugh appointment by President Donald Trump would create “the most presidential-power friendly court in the modern era.”

“Under his view, if the president shot someone on 5th Avenue, he could not be prosecuted in office,” Dean told the committee.

Dean, 79, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and served four months in prison for his role in the Watergate cover-up in the 1970s.

He said a pro-presidential powers Supreme Court with the current Republican Congress was deeply troubling because the GOP Senate and House have shown no interest in oversight of a Republican president.

“Republicans are now creating a Supreme Court that will be a weak check, at best, on presidential powers,” Dean said in written testimony. “That is a fact I can attest to from personal experience.”

The Supreme Court ruled in U.S. v. Nixon that the president must comply with a subpoena and provide tapes that backed up Dean’s testimony about Nixon’s involvement in the Watergate scandal and coverup.

“Without the tapes, it was my word against his,” Dean said, adding that the historical outcome would have been different.

Witnesses praise Kavanaugh

Dean’s testimony on the final day of the Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearing for Kavanaugh was in contrast to dozens of witnesses who praised the nominee for his judicial temperament, professional competence and intellect.

“I do not know a judge or lawyer more uniformly respected,” said Ted Olson, a former solicitor general under President George W. Bush, who has known Kavanaugh for over two decades.

Another former solicitor general under Bush, Paul Clement, said Kavanaugh stood out as a law clerk as “a well rounded, unpretentious, down-to earth person.”

Kavanaugh was rated “well qualified” for the Supreme Court vacancy by unanimous vote of the American Bar Association, said Paul Moxley of Salt Lake City, who serves as chairman of the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary.

Trump nominated Kavanaugh in July to replace Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who retired. Kennedy was a swing vote on the high court, siding with liberals on the court on social issues like abortion rights and same-sex marriage and with conservatives on other issues.

Testimony in the four-day hearing revealed that as a judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Kavanaugh has consistently been a conservative voice in decisions.

Kavanaugh was lauded by Republicans after two-days of grilling by Democrats on the committee over his position on abortion rights, civil rights, gun control and presidential powers.

But Dean told the committee that Kavanaugh has been inconsistent in his positions on executive and presidential powers during a career that included a stint as a lawyer on Independent Counsel Ken Starr’s team that investigated President Bill Clinton and as a White House aide for Bush.

‘The rule of law’

Dean said it was also troubling that the Trump White House was withholding documents from Kavanaugh’s tenure in the Bush White House.

Nixon resigned in 1974 after the Watergate hearings, where Dean was a star witness. More recently, Dean has been a harsh critic of Trump, and told the Senate committee on Friday that Nixon resigned because he believed in the rule of law, whereas Trump “could care less about the rule of law.”

Called by Democrats to testify in the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing, Dean said his “only interest is in good government.”

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told Dean that he and his Watergate co-conspirators “hurt my country.” He also told Dean that he came forward in the Watergate scandal only “because you were cornered like a rat.”

Democrats have focused on presidential powers during the Kavanaugh hearings, repeatedly quizzing the nominee about his position on presidential powers, pardons and whether a president should be charged with criminal crimes while in office.

Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and whether the Trump campaign was in collusion with the foreign government.

A separate federal criminal investigation in New York has led to a guilty plea by the president’s personal attorney to charges related to payments to silence women who had extramarital affairs with Trump before he took office.

“This president is the subject of a criminal investigation,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.

The witnesses for and against the Kavanaugh nomination wrapped up a contentious week that saw senators sparring over access to records.

Democrats are still disgruntled over Republicans’ treatment of Merrick Garland, the chief appellate court judge on the same DC circuit as Kavanaugh, who was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Barack Obama after Justice Antonin Scalia died in 2016. Led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republicans refused to hold a hearing on Garland’s nomination.

Following this week’s four-day hearing, Kavanaugh appeared to clear a hurdle to ultimate confirmation to the court.

With the GOP holding a 51-49 majority in the Senate, Democrats cannot block the nomination without Republican defections.

Two GOP moderates who support abortion rights and several Democrats in states won by Trump in 2016 have indicated they are open to supporting Kavanaugh when the Senate votes on confirmation, expected later this month.

Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.