Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) asked Trump Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh if a sitting president can be required to respond to a subpoena, and Kavanaugh refused to answer.

Read: Samuel Alito Is The Insurrectionist Threat To Democracy On The Supreme Court

Video:

Transcript:

Sen. Feinstein: My time is going to run out quickly. Let me ask you this, can a sitting president be required to respond to a subpoena?

Kavanaugh: That’s a hypothetical question about what would be an elaboration or a difference from US v. Nixon’s holding. I think going with the Ginsburg principle, which is not the Ginsburg alone principle but everybody’s principle on the current supreme court, and as a matter of judicial Independence, I can’t give you an answer on the hypothetical question.

Feinstein: You can’t give me an answer on whether a president has to respond to a subpoena from a court of law?

Kavanaugh: My understanding is that you’re asking me to give my view on a potential hypothetical. That’s something that each of the eight justices currently sitting on the supreme court when they were sitting in my seat, declined to decide, potential hypothetical cases. I can tell you about the US v. Nixon precedent.

Brett Kavanaugh’s non-answer was an answer

The American people have seen this song and dance many times from conservative Supreme Court nominees. They hide their views. Kavanaugh didn’t say that he would overturn Roe v. Wade, but he wouldn’t move off of the idea that this is settled law. He is trying to convince the American people that settled law actually means something, and that the Supreme Court can’t just as quickly overturn “settled law” as they made it.

On the issue of whether or not a president must respond to a subpoena, Kavanaugh could have given any number of answers, but instead, he chose to say nothing, which should tell the American people everything about how he will vote when the matter inevitably comes before the Supreme Court.

Brett Kavanaugh isn’t fooling anyone, and his non-answer was a big red flag about how he will rule as a potential Supreme Court justice.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

Follow Jason Easley on Facebook.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association