Kavanaugh touts independence after contentious start to confirmation hearing
WASHINGTON — Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, said Tuesday that his rulings as a federal appeals court judge were uninformed by "personal or policy preferences," as the opening day of his confirmation hearing was marked by dissent and disruption.
"My judicial philosophy is straightforward," Kavanaugh said in his opening remarks to the Senate Judiciary Committee. "A judge must be independent and must interpret the law, not make the law. A judge must interpret statutes as written. A judge must interpret the Constitution as written, informed by history and tradition and precedent."
He added that "in each case, I have followed the law. I don't decide cases based on personal or policy preferences."
The beginning of the nearly eight-hour hearing quickly descended into chaos Tuesday morning as Democrats executed a coordinated effort to adjourn and postpone it, aided by the shouts of protesters who were then escorted out. The fireworks, which succeeded in stalling the proceedings for more than hour, followed the late-night release of tens of thousands of documents related to Kavanaugh's time in the George W. Bush White House.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/kavanaugh-hearings-launch-tuesday-amid-fresh-democratic-calls-delay-n905891
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