The fight over Judge Kavanaugh is the latest in long-running partisan warfare over judges. An earlier chapter included Democrats’ fight against a group of conservative nominees that Mr. Bush put forward after the disputed 2000 election, some of whom were for vacant seats Senate Republicans had refused to let President Bill Clinton fill.

One of those nominees was Mr. Bush’s effort to elevate Judge Pickering, who drew criticism because, among other things, he pushed as a district court judge to reduce the sentence of a man convicted of burning a cross in front of an interracial couple’s house. After Democrats blocked Judge Pickering’s nomination with a filibuster, Mr. Bush used his recess appointment power in 2004 to appoint him without Senate confirmation.

Judge Kavanaugh’s testimony that the Pickering nomination was not one of those he “primarily” handled came in response to a narrow question about whether he knew about Judge Pickering’s solicitation of letters of support from Mississippi lawyers who appeared before him, a step that legal ethics experts criticized. He said he had not.

But he was also asked more broadly to describe his role in the Pickering nomination and to identify which nominees he had worked on “in any capacity” in written questions after an earlier hearing before the Judiciary Committee.

He wrote that he was one of about 10 White House lawyers on a judicial selection committee deciding who to recommend, all of whom “participated in discussions and meetings concerning all of the president’s judicial nominees.” He also named six appeals court nominees, “among others,” he had aided in the confirmation process, such as by “reviewing nomination paperwork and preparing for hearings,” and did not include Judge Pickering.

Many of the emails showing glimpses of Judge Kavanaugh’s involvement with the Pickering nomination were minor, such as circulating articles or remarks by public officials related to him.