Trump’s supreme court nominee was grilled on abortion, gun rights and presidential power on the second day of his hearing

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump’s conservative nominee for the US supreme court, faced sharp questions on Capitol Hill on some of the hottest issues raging in American society – abortion, gun rights and presidential power – during the second day of his dramatic confirmation hearing.

Amid hours of intense questioning on Wednesday, Kavanaugh declined to say how he would rule if the supreme court were to once again weigh the legality of abortion and similarly dodged on whether the president has the authority to pardon himself.

The atmosphere was a little calmer, after the opening day on Tuesday quickly became a cacophony of yelling protesters incensed at the choice of Kavanaugh and repeated interruptions by Democratic senators angry at the late disclosure of documents by the White House about the judge’s track record.

But demonstrations continued inside the US Senate building on Wednesday, with occasional outbursts from protesters, such as: “Sham president, sham justice!” and “No Trump puppet!”

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As members of Congress weighed his suitability for America’s top judicial bench, Kavanaugh said he understood “the significance” of Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 supreme court decision that legalized abortion in the US. But he declined to respond when asked if he would make a commitment against overturning the law.

He also successfully dodged the question of whether a president must respond to a subpoena – neatly sidestepping an intensely contested topic against the backdrop of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

The wide-ranging testimony underscored the potential for Kavanaugh’s nomination to shape the supreme court and the decisions before it for decades to come. Kavanaugh, a federal appeals judge, was nominated by Trump in July to replace the retiring justice Anthony Kennedy, who had been a critical swing vote on the nine-member bench. Kennedy had a track record of siding with the more liberal justices on the bench on some decisions, the more conservative wing on others. Kavanaugh is expected to push the court to the right.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Protesters disrupt the start of the supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing. Photograph: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

On Wednesday, members of the Senate committee were granted up to 30 minutes each to grill Kavanaugh on a variety of subjects. But he remained vague on what his approach would be to several issues at the forefront of his nomination.

Chief among them was his views on abortion amid concerns that Kavanaugh’s confirmation will all but ensure an end to legal abortion across the US, long a goal of ultra-conservatives.

But in the hearing Kavanaugh mostly stuck to reciting the facts of the case without disclosing his own legal view.

“I understand the importance of the precedent set forth in Roe v Wade,” he said. “It has been reaffirmed many times over the past 45 years.”

Asked directly by Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic senator from California, for his position on a woman’s right to choose, Kavanaugh again cited legal precedent, while adding: “I understand how passionately and deeply people feel about the issue. I don’t live in a bubble. I live in the real world.”

Kavanaugh’s comments will do little to pacify skeptics, who have cited his opposition to a court ruling last year that an undocumented immigrant teenager who was in government custody was entitled to seek an abortion.

Pressed on the case in Wednesday’s hearing, Kavanaugh said he was following his interpretation of parental consent provisions in the law. (The teen followed state law, obtaining permission to seek an abortion from a judge in the absence of parental consent.)

"I'm a judge, I'm not making the policy decision,” Kavanaugh said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Senator Dianne Feinstein asked Brett Kavanaugh directly for his views on a woman’s right to choose. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/AP

On Twitter, Hillary Clinton urged her followers to join the pressure campaign against Kavanaugh by calling their senators.

“If Brett Kavanaugh becomes a supreme court justice, will he help gut or overturn Roe v Wade, which legalized abortion in America? Yes, of course he will,” the former presidential nominee tweeted.

In another consequential exchange, Kavanaugh would not say if a president was legally obligated to comply with a subpoena.

“I can’t give you an answer on that hypothetical question,” he said.

The question, posed by Feinstein, was an unmistakable reference to the legal challenges facing Trump. The president’s repeated efforts to undermine the Russia investigation – and threats to dismiss the special counsel – have amplified the potential for the matter to eventually reach the courts.

Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, asked Kavanaugh point blank if presidents have the “absolute right” to pardon themselves. The judge once again demurred.

“The question of self-pardons is something I've never analyzed,” Kavanaugh said. “It's a hypothetical question that I can't begin to answer in this context.”

Kavanaugh also described US v Nixon, the supreme court ruling that ordered then President Richard Nixon to turn over secret White House recordings toward the end of the Watergate investigation, as “one of the greatest moments in American judicial history”. He had previously signaled it may have been wrongly decided.

Democrats have raised concerns that if the special counsel investigation were to make its way to the supreme court, Kavanaugh could not be impartial toward the president who appointed him.

Kavanaugh insisted the White House was subject to the law, but left Democrats on the panel frustrated over his refusal to say where, exactly, the president’s authority might be limited.

Kavanaugh would not comment on whether a president could fire the special counsel investigating him and said it was up to Congress to determine what would constitute an impeachable offense. He did, however, push back on the notion that he would be loyal to Trump.

"If confirmed to the Supreme Court and as a sitting judge, I owe my loyalty to the Constitution," Kavanaugh said, while holding up a personal copy of the legal document.

The Republicans have a razor-thin majority in the Senate but are nevertheless expected to have the votes to confirm Kavanaugh before the midterm elections in November.