Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh gave a definitive answer to the question of where his loyalties would lie during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday morning.
When Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) asked what loyalty Kavanaugh might feel to President Donald Trump, the judge responded by pulling out his well-worn pocket Constitution.
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Hatch began by explaining that many might assume that Kavanaugh would owe some sort of loyalty to the president who appointed him. “If, at the end of the process — of this process — you are confirmed to the Supreme Court, which I expect you will be, what sort of loyalty will you owe to the president?” Hatch asked. “How will that loyalty differ from the loyalty you owe to, say, the American people?”
Kavanaugh’s response was immediate. Waving his own copy of the Constitution for emphasis, he said, “Senator, if confirmed to the Supreme Court, and as a sitting judge, I owe my loyalty to the Constitution. That’s what I owe loyalty to. The Constitution establishes me as an independent judge bound to follow the law as written.”
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