Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., aims to use the confirmation battle over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as a way to put set himself apart from possible rivals in 2020.The Hill reported.
When Kavanaugh's nomination was announced, Booker immediately said, "The nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court is enormously concerning and I'm strongly opposed to it," according to Politico.
Booker has highlighted Kavanaugh's statement that a president in office should not be subjected to criminal prosecution or civil litigation, which is an issue for President Donald Trump considering special counsel Robert Mueller's probe.
"I don't think this president could have chosen somebody that better protects him from a special counsel investigation," Booker told TMZ. "This is like he chose somebody to try and protect himself from all the things that might arise from the investigation."
In 2009, Kavanaugh wrote that an indictment of a president would "cripple the federal government" and should wait until the president is out of office.
Brigid Callahan Harrison, a political science and law professor at Montclair State University, told The Hill: "This is an opportunity for Sen. Booker to gain an incredibly large national audience around this Supreme Court fight."
Callahan Harrison said she recognized that the criminal prosecution is a "galvanizing issue" that could set Booker apart from possible rivals in the 2020 presidential race.
"It's valuable and smart to get out in front of this… making this argument will have a whole lot of resonance across the political spectrum," Callahan Harrison said.
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