September 5, 2018

Kavanaugh Refuses to Say If Donald Trump Can Pardon Himself

Music to the president’s ears.

Alex Edelman/ZUMA

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Brett Kavanaugh is facing a grilling on Capitol Hill today, the second day of his Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing to become the next Supreme Court justice.

He’s been questioned about a variety of hot-button issues, including Roe v. Wade and assault weapons. But the most noteworthy moments from the hearing might relate to issues that Kavanaugh has been reluctant to address before the committee: law enforcement officials’ ability to subpoena the president and the president’s pardon power—two topics that loom over Donald Trump’s presidency and the ongoing investigations by special counsel Robert Mueller and other federal prosecutors.

“Can a sitting president be required to respond to a subpoena?” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the committee’s top Democrat, asked at the top of Wednesday’s hearing. 

Kavanaugh described the question as a hypothetical one and insisted that he therefore couldn’t provide an answer to it.

“My understanding is that you’re asking me to give my view on a potential hypothetical, and that’s something that each of the eight justices currently sitting on the Supreme Court when they were sitting in my seat declined to decide potential hypothetical cases,” he said.

Curiously, Feinstein proceeded to thank Kavanaugh for his “forthcoming” response.

Later in the hearing, Kavanaugh refused to answer a question on the president’s ability to pardon himself.

“President Trump claims he has an absolute right to pardon himself. Does he?” Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) asked.

“The question of self-pardons is something I have never analyzed. It’s a question that I have not written about. It’s a question, therefore, that’s a hypothetical question that I can’t begin to answer in this context as a sitting judge and as a nominee to the Supreme Court,” Kavanaugh said.

When asked if the president had the legal standing to pardon an individual in exchange for a promise not to testify against the president, Kavanaugh again declined. Leahy remarked that for the sake of the country, he hoped it would remain a hypothetical question.

While it’s unclear if Trump has been tuning into the hearing—his Twitter account on Wednesday appeared laser-focused on other topics, most notably Bob Woodward’s forthcoming book and the NFL—it’s safe to assume that the president is likely very pleased with his nominee’s performance and staunch refusal to opine on the very real legal issues threatening his presidency.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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