Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer complained Monday that Judiciary Committee Republicans are breaking chamber rules by hiding some of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s documents from other senators.
Mr. Schumer said Republicans are keeping some documents from Judge Kavanaugh’s time in the Bush White House secret because they’ve been marked as confidential by lawyers for former President George W. Bush. But the New York Democrat said under Senate rules, any document held by a committee must be available to all senators.
That, he said, means everyone in the chamber should be able to see tens of thousands of pages the committee has yet to share.
Mr. Schumer insisted his demand isn’t an effort to slow down Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination process — but said senators must flex their rights.
“We’ll work hard day and night to go through these documents and see if anything worth questioning judge Kavanaugh arises in them, but we certainly have that right by the rules of the Senate,” he said.
Mr. Bush’s presidential library is reviewing and turning over to the committee documents related to Judge Kavanaugh’s work in the White House counsel’s office from 2001 to 2003. The National Archives is doing its own review and releasing material publicly, but Mr. Bush’s lawyers have been turning documents over directly to the committee.
Senate Rule 10-A says data, record and charts are the property of the Senate, and “all members of the committee and the senate shall have access to such records.”
Mr. Schumer said he is requesting Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, provide access for all senators to review Judge Kavanaugh’s record, citing that rule.
But Mr. Grassley fired back on Twitter, saying he welcomes any senator to come by his committee any day of the week — including weekends — to review the documents.
“A desk is waiting,” he said.
Last week Mr. Schumer threatened to sue the National Archives for documents related to Judge Kavanaugh’s time working as staff secretary to Mr. Bush from 2003 to 2006. The National Archives has said it will only produce Judge Kavanaugh’s records related to his time working in the White House counsel’s office, citing Mr. Grassley’s request.
Meanwhile, the Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California met with Judge Kavanaugh on Monday for roughly one hour.
“We had a good discussion, that’s all I’m going to say,” she told reporters.
Judge Kavanaugh will meet with more senators this week, including moderate Republicans Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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