Watergate figure John Dean calls Kavanaugh nomination ‘troubling’

John Dean — Richard Nixon’s counsel who helped topple his presidency during the Watergate scandal — warned the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s could tilt the high court in President Donald Trump’s favor.

“If Judge Kavanaugh is confirmed, I submit we will have the most pro-presidential powers Supreme Court in the modern era,” said Dean, who served as White House counsel for nearly three years.

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“With Judge Kavanaugh on the court, we should anticipate a majority that will find it increasingly difficult to discover any presidential actions which they do not approve.”

Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, strongly opposed Kavanaugh’s nomination as well. Richmond offered blistering criticism of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees, calling some of them “bigoted.”

“Mr. Kavanaugh’s confirmation would fortify a generation of destructive conservative ideology at a time when several historically significant legal challenges will come before the high court,” Richmond said. “As members of the CBC, we cannot overstate what is at stake for African-Americans and communities of color across the nation. Judge Kavanaugh … possesses a conservative judicial record that leads us to believe that voting rights, education, and criminal law outcomes will be endangered in coming years.”

Richmond asserted that Kavanaugh’s legal writings demonstrate “sparse commitment to equal protection under the law.”

But Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Republicans on the Judiciary Committee countered with several high-profile legal figures of their own, including Ted Olson and Paul Clement, both former solicitor generals.

“I have known Judge Kavanaugh for three decades,” Olson testified. “He is thoughtful, courageous, open-minded, respected by his peers, and widely praised by the lawyers who have clerked for him … He is the kind of person that we expect and deserve on the Supreme Court.”



The first three days of Kavanaugh hearings have been by marked by intense partisan warfare, leaked documents, and dozens of arrests of anti-Kavanaugh protesters.

Yet despite some tense moments for Kavanaugh during more than 30 hours of back-and-forth with senators, especially over abortion, there has been little indication that the hearings have disrupted his path to confirmation, which would mark a huge victory for President Donald Trump, Grassley and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

Grassley has scheduled a Judiciary Committee vote on the Kavanaugh nomination for next week, but Democrats will be able to delay that under committee rules.

The level of drama at Friday’s session was far lower than it had been the first three days, which saw dozens of protesters dragging from the hearing room for trying to disrupt the proceedings. While three protesters were removed during the first 90 minutes, that was far less than the dozens who had been removed during the previous days.