There was an "abundance of riches" for President Donald Trump when it came to selecting a nominee to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, but Judge Brett Kavanaugh stood out because of his record of interpreting laws and the Constitution, not because Kennedy recommended him, White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said Tuesday.
"He has made a public list of 25 individuals of high caliber of the right academic, judicial and other credentials and he wanted to be transparent in this process and let the American people see the types of judges and individuals he was selecting from," Shah told CNN's "New Day."
Shah said Trump spoke with Kennedy on Monday to inform him that he'd chosen Kavanaugh as his replacement, and the president also met with the the justice last Wednesday, after he announced his plans to retire.
However, Kavanaugh "was the president's choice," Shah said. "Understand that Judge Kavanaugh was on his publicly disclosed list as far back as last November and he has a judicial record with over 300 opinions, a dozen which have been affirmed by the Supreme Court and many others that have been cited by appeals court judges and lower courts throughout the country. This is an influential judge.'
Kavanaugh did clerk for Kennedy in the past, Shah said, but his "record, his writings, his appreciation for the appropriate role for the judiciary speaks for itself."
Show host John Berman, though, told Shah that there are reports that Kennedy had made it clear he wanted Kavanaugh to replace him.
According to a Politico report Tuesday morning, Kennedy highly recommended Kavanaugh, his former law clerk, to Trump. Administration officials said the retiring justice's praise only reinforced the preference Trump had for him even before the meeting with Kennedy.
"I won't read out private conversations that Justice Kennedy had with either members of the White House or the president," Shah told Berman "What I will say is that Judge Kavanaugh's qualifications. his background of over a decades of rulings speak clearly."
He also pushed back when Berman told him there is a "suggestion" that Kennedy agreed to retire if Trump could promise Kavanaugh would fill his shoes, or that the White House promised to appoint Kavanaugh if Kennedy stepped down.
"The president didn't make a decision until Sunday, in which he called Judge Kavanaugh, and the judge's record speaks for itself," said Shah. "He's been on the president's publicly disclosed list since last November and it's clear in over 300 opinions he is an individual who supports applying the law to the facts and as it was originally intended."
However, he said that Kennedy can "speak for himself," and that Trump "spoke with clarity about why he chose Judge Kavanaugh."
Shah also denied that Trump spoke with Kavanaugh or other potential nominees about affirmative action, or any other specific cases or hypothetical issues.
"He asked them how they would apply the law, their philosophy on jurisprudence, what they believe is the appropriate role for the courts," said Shah.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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