To Grassley: "I am troubled by your unilateral and unprecedented decision to mark many of the documents 'Committee Confidential,' essentially blocking Senators not on the committee from conducting their constitutional due diligence necessary to perform our role of 'advice and consent.' Judge Kavanaugh's documents from his time in the White House and the Office of the Independent Counsel illuminate his thoughts and approaches.

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Heinrich requests that all Senators have full access to Supreme Court nominee's record before confirmation vote

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M) formally requested all records pertaining to Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh's tenure with the Office of the Independent Counsel as Associate Counsel, and his tenure at the White House as Associate Counsel, Assistant to the President, and Staff Secretary.

In a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Senator Heinrich stressed that access to Judge Kavanaugh's documents relating to these matters is essential to properly fulfill his constitutional obligation to advise the President on the Supreme Court nominee.

"I am troubled by your unilateral and unprecedented decision to mark many of the documents 'Committee Confidential,' essentially blocking Senators not on the committee from conducting their constitutional due diligence necessary to perform our role of 'advice and consent.' Judge Kavanaugh's documents from his time in the White House and the Office of the Independent Counsel illuminate his thoughts and approach on many issues important to New Mexicans which may come before the Supreme Court. It is essential that we as Senators have full access to nominee's views and positions to better understand his jurisprudence and thought process before a confirmation vote," wrote Sen. Heinrich.

"Of particular interest to me and my work on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Armed Services Committee are documents that relate to Judge Kavanaugh's view on the separation of powers, the role of an independent judiciary, and the power of the president. A cursory review of the subject matter from Judge Kavanaugh's emails from 2001 to 2003 raise significant questions," continued Sen. Heinrich. "It is unconscionable on these important issues that speak to the very freedoms we hold dear that we as Senators would be denied access to a record that exists and is critical to evaluating the nominee."

A copy of the letter is available here and below.

August 21, 2018

The Honorable Chairman Charles E. Grassley, Committee on the Judiciary

United States Senate, 224 Dirksen Senate Building,Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Grassley,

I am writing to request that as Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary you authorize the release of all documents provided to the committee pertaining to Judge Brett Kavanaugh's time with the Office of the Independent Counsel as Associate Counsel, and his tenure at the White House as Associate Counsel, Assistant to the President, and Staff Secretary as they relate to presidential power, presidential war power, judicial independence, the detention and interrogation of suspected terrorists, and the mass surveillance of Americans. Access to Judge Kavanaugh's documents relating to these matters is essential to properly fulfill my constitutional obligation.

[paragraph quoted above]

The committee has so far released only a tiny fraction of the nearly 1 million potentially relevant documents pertaining to Judge Kavanaugh. However, portions of the 124,000 documents released already raise serious questions about Judge Kavanaugh's truthfulness in his prior nomination hearing, and his willingness to provide this body with the information it needs to make informed decisions. We know that Judge Kavanaugh was involved in the Bush Administration's considerations of mass surveillance, wiretapping, anti-terrorism laws, military tribunals, and the detention and interrogation of suspected terrorists. This is contrary to Judge Kavanaugh's testimony during his 2007 confirmation hearing that he has yet to reconcile. Further, during his time at the White House Judge Kavanaugh was actively involved in limiting the ability of this body and the public to access information concerning judicial nominees, presidential records, detainee information, and General Accountability Office inquiries. These are troubling patterns that should clearly weigh in favor of providing more access to Senators, not less.

[paragraph quoted above]

The Constitution is unambiguous on the advice and consent role of the Senate in judicial nominations. Not allowing Senators and the public a complete view of a nominee's record makes a mockery of our nomination process. I urge you to make the documents available to me and my staff.

Sincerely,

Senator Martin Heinrich

>>>>>

What do New Mexicans think? from comments after relevant recent editorial in Santa Fe New Mexican:

Scott McMillin~~~~I don't think the GOP could have done the Democrats a bigger favor than to make this process so transparently political. That last minute document dump is a classic. The protests at the hearings will be front page stuff.

Mike Johnson

None of that will change anyone's mind, and this will be the 5th reliable conservative constructionalist on SCOTUS. A huge win for the American Constitution.

Deborah Stark

The great divide between us is becoming more and more evident with each topical article and opinion in the daily paper. I stand solidly behind and grateful that we have the Senators we do in this state. It is alarming however, just how much vitriol exists in the people of this community and, on so many subjects. We live in a paradise in Santa Fe- it's unfortunate we cannot let go of the hate and the divide and unify our efforts to create a more productive attitude.Yes, the same problem appears to exist around the globe. Pity us small minded human beings.

Mike Johnson

It is a huge divide, and getting bigger, well said. If you:
"...stand solidly behind and grateful that we have the Senators we do in this state.", then you are being divisive and create this environment, as I think those two are the worst in the country. This starts the hate when you assume your opinion is superior to others and refuse to accept other views and opinions as equally valid for them. That disagreement easily morphs into hate and vitriol when it is political used to degrade others and enforce a political agenda on others who reject it. That is the game those Senators, and most all other politicians play on us, and that creates the problems.

>>>>>>

From KOAT-TV coverage July 10, 2018:

ALBUQUERQUE, NM --

Albuquerque protesters took to the streets in July to rally against Donald Trump's nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Protesters talked about what scares them most about the nomination, while KOAT's political analyst weighed in on how likely it is their fears will become reality.

Outside the Simms Building, protesters said they made about 100 phone calls to Senate Judiciary Committee members on Tuesday, hoping to keep Kavanaugh from becoming the next Supreme Court justice.

"The important thing that I think people need to understand is that their voice matters," community activist Lisa Christopherson said. "President Trump is using the appointment as a shield. This president is under investigation, and he shouldn't have a nominee at all!" Christopher is also worried a new court with Kavanaugh may try to overturn Roe Versus Wade.

But KOAT Political Analyst Brian Sanderoff said, even if the high court were to take up the case again, a women's right to choose to have an abortion may not be in jeopardy. "The right to an abortion is an American right. If Roe V Wade were to be overturned,it would perhaps then be up to individual states to decide whether or not to allow abortions," Sanderoff said.

Meanwhile, protester Rob Dukes said the nomination is really part of a larger issue. "This is entirely partisan, and it is not about picking someone who is an independent thinker, it's picking someone who will do what he's told," Dukes said.

Authors Website: https://www.facebook.com/groups/592985284186083/

Authors Bio:

Early in the 2016 Primary campaign, I started a Facebook group: Bernie Sanders: Advice and Strategies to Help Him Win! As the primary season advanced, we shifted the focus to advancing Bernie's legislation in the Senate, particularly the most critical one, to protect Oak Flat, sacred to the San Carlos Apaches, in the Tonto National Forest, from John McCain's efforts to privatize this national forest and turn it over to Rio Tinto Mining, an Australian mining company whose record by comparison makes Monsanto look like altar boys, to be developed as North America's largest copper mine. This is monstrous and despicable, and yet only Bernie's Save Oak Flat Act (S2242) stands in the way of this diabolical plan.

We added "2020" to the title.


I am an art gallery owner in Santa Fe since 1980 selling Native American painting and NM landscapes, specializing in modern Native Ledger Art.


I have always been intensely involved in politics, going back to the mid's 1970's, being a volunteer lobbyist in the US Senate for the Secretary General of the United Nations, then a "snowball-in-hell" campaign for US Senate in NM in the late 70's, and for the past 20 years have worked extensively to pressure the FDA to rescind its approval for aspartame, the neurotoxic artificial sweetener metabolized as formaldehyde. This may be becoming a reality to an extent in California, which, under Proposition 65, is considering requiring a mandatory Carcinogen label on all aspartame products, although all bureaucracies seem to stall under any kind of corporate pressure.


Bills to ban aspartame were in the State Senates of New Mexico and Hawaii, but were shut down by corporate lobbyists (particularly Monsanto lobbyists in Hawaii and Coca Cola lobbyists in New Mexico).


For several years, I was the editor of New Mexico Sun News, and my letters to the editor and op/eds in 2016 have appeared in NM, California, Wisconsin, New York, Maryland, the Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, and many international papers, on the subject of consumer protection. Our best issue was 10 days before Obama won in 2008, when we published a special early edition of the paper declaring that Obama Wins! This was the top story on CNN for many hours, way back then....


My highest accomplishments thus far are

1. a plan to create a UN Secretary General's Pandemic Board of Inquiry, a plan that is in the works and might be achieved even before the 75th UN General Assembly in September 2020.


2. Now history until the needs becomes clear to the powers who run the United Nations: a UN Resolution to create a new Undersecretary General for Nutrition and Consumer Protection, strongly supported ten years ago by India and 53 cosponsoring nations, but shut down by the US Mission to the UN in 2008. To read it, google UNITED NATIONS UNDERSECRETARY GENERAL FOR NUTRITION, please.


These are not easy battles, any of them, and they require a great deal of political and journalistic focus. OpEdNews is the perfect place for those who have a lot to say, so much that they exceed the limiting capacities of their local and regional newspapers. Trying to go beyond the regional papers seems to require some kind of "inside" credentials, as if you had to be in a club of corporate-accepted writers, and if not, you are "from somewhere else," a sad state of corporate induced xenophobia that should have no place in America in 2020!

This should be a goal for every author with something current to say: breaking through yet another glass ceiling, and get your say said in editorial pages all over America. Certainly, this was a tool that was essentially ignored in 2016, and cannot be ignored in the big elections of 2020.


In my capacity as Editor of the Santa Fe Sun News, Fox interviewed Mikhail Gorbachev: http://www.prlog.org/10064349-mikhail-gorbachev