Kavanaugh Tried to Limit Payouts to 9/11 Victims’ Families

The bad news about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh just keeps coming.

When he was first nominated by President Trump, we discovered that he thinks presidents are above the law, and can’t be indicted or subpoenaed while in office.

Soon after, nearly 200 civil and human rights group signed a letter opposing his nomination, due to his past rulings restricting the civil rights of citizens.

We also learned that he did not believe that Americans have healthcare rights, and would be likely to rule against the Affordable Care Act.

A sitting U.S. Senator also accused Kavanaugh of lying under oath in Senate testimony in 2007, and demanded that he come back to address these charges of perjury.

And just last week we learned that the White House is refusing to turn over for review over 100,000 documents related to the years that Kavanaugh worked in the Bush administration, because the documents would reveal too much about the nominee’s conservative positions.

In addition to those things, Kavanaugh is also known to be an opponent of abortion rights and gay marriage.

So just to make sure we know what a nasty and petty man Kavanaugh really is, the New York Daily News is now reporting that Kavanaugh wanted to severely limit the federal government’s liability to help victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City.

According to the Daily News, in October of 2001 Kavanaugh, working as an associate White House counsel, proposed to a staff member in the Bush administration that a cap of just $500,000 should be established on payments to the families of the people who died on 9/11.

At a time when America was still mourning the victims of the deadly terrorist attacks, Kavanaugh’s primary concern apparently was how to screw over victims and severely restrict their legal rights.

It was good that his suggestion wasn’t approved. Kenneth Feinberg, who was put in charge of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, didn’t put any limits on the amount of payout 9/11 victims and families could receive.  He used factors like “pain and suffering” plus “economic loss” stemming from a victim’s death to calculate figures.

As a result, payments to families ultimately ranged from $220,000 to $7,100,000, which was more equitable than Kavanaugh’s proposed cap. In addition, 95 families of victims who did not use the fund sued the airlines and received over $500 million in a negotiated settlement.

Many  people believe that the fact that Kavanaugh heartlessly tried to hurt the 9/11 victims and their families shows his lack of compassion for ordinary citizens. It shows that he will protect powerful interests, such as the government or big business, and disregard the legal rights of regular people in this country.

As Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, “This window into the thinking of Brett Kavanaugh days after the horrific 9/11 terror attack raises real questions about Judge Kavanaugh’s priorities and judgment.”

Schumer has been fighting Kavanaugh’s nomination, and after all the things we have learned about this nominee, we hope that he is successful.

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.