Cory Booker and Democratic Norms The Senator’s political stunt to release documents backfires. see note please
https://www.wsj.com/articles/cory-booker-and-democratic-norms-1536276103
When he was mayor of Newark, Booker was considered to be the light at the end of the Lincoln Tunnel….now he’s just another political hack….rsk
Democrats have been acting out at Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing, but Cory Booker is distinguishing himself in a crowded field. The New Jersey Senator released confidential documents in what he admitted was a violation of Senate rules, and his distortions need correcting.
Questioning Judge Kavanaugh on Wednesday evening, Mr. Booker referred to an email the judge sent while in George W. Bush’s White House counsel’s office. Republican Mike Lee interjected that Judge Kavanaugh didn’t have a copy of the email, which was marked confidential. The papers are shielded from the public under the Presidential Records Act, but Mr. Bush has allowed Senators and staff to read them.
Mr. Booker complained that an email with the subject line “racial profiling” shouldn’t have been withheld. “This wasn’t personal information. There’s no national security issue whatsoever,” he intoned. “The fact that we’re not allowing these emails out, as we have asked, as I have asked,” is evidence that “the system is rigged.” On Thursday Mr. Booker released the documents to TV fanfare and dared Republicans to punish him for it.
Hold up. Weeks ago Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley invited Senators to earmark confidential documents they’d like to discuss in open hearings, so the Chairman could try to have restrictions waived. Only Senator Amy Klobuchar responded, and the four documents totaling 12 pages she requested were released late last month.
Enter Mr. Booker, stage left, releasing the documents and praising himself for an act of “civil disobedience.” The documents he referred to were already public on Thursday morning when Senator Booker was still heralding his own high moral character.
A spokesman for Senate Judiciary says the committee worked overnight with the Justice Department and Mr. Bush’s representatives to honor a release request Mr. Booker made late Wednesday evening. The documents were cleared for the public, and the committee says it notified Senator Booker. Fresh off this embarrassment on Thursday afternoon Senator Booker tweeted out more confidential documents, ostensibly to show his commitment to rule breaking.
What salacious information appears in the documents? One email thread discusses the legal merits of racial profiling after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Judge Kavanaugh says he “generally” favors “effective security measures that are race-neutral.” Now there’s a scoop.
Democrats are also flogging a 2003 email about Roe v. Wade as proof that Judge Kavanaugh will outlaw abortion. The email concerns an op-ed draft. The writer—not Judge Kavanaugh—claimed that legal scholars “across the board” agree that the case is “settled law.” Judge Kavanaugh responded that “I am not sure that all legal scholars” characterize Roe as settled law, which is true. He also noted in the email that the Supreme Court can overrule precedent, and that three current Justices on the Court would do so.
He’s probably referring to the late Justices Antonin Scalia and William Rehnquist, and Justice Clarence Thomas. But Mr. Thomas is the only Justice on the current High Court who has declared a desire to overturn Roe. The more telling information came from Mr. Kavanaugh’s hearing, in which he noted his respect for precedent and that Roe has been reaffirmed many times over the years.
None of this offers new insight about Judge Kavanaugh, but it does tell us something about Senator Booker’s presidential ambitions and the degree to which Democrats are willing to demean the Senate to defeat a nominee. You might even say they’re abusing “democratic norms.” Mr. Booker should be tossed off the Judiciary Committee, as long as he isn’t reassigned to Senate Ethics.
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