The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week regarding former President Donald Trump‘s claim of absolute presidential immunity from prosecution over election interference in the 2020 presidential election.
During the arguments, Trump-nominated Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh drew the ire of legal analysts when he described President Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon as “one of the better decisions in presidential history.”
Lawyer Asha Rangappa, former FBI Special Agent-turned-ABC News legal analyst, responded: “Weird. In 2009, Kavanaugh wrote a law review article specifically contemplating criminal prosecutions for Presidents after they leave office, and noting that this possibility provides a check on a ‘bad-behaving or law-breaking’ President. I guess he just changed his mind for some reason.”
Weird. In 2009, Kavanaugh wrote a law review article specifically contemplating criminal prosecutions for Presidents after they leave office, and noting that this possibility provides a check on a “bad-behaving or law-breaking” President. I guess he just changed his mind for some… pic.twitter.com/6zY7QIuDn8
— Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) April 27, 2024
Rangappa provided a link to the Minnesota Law Review article, ‘Separation of Powers During the Forty-Fourth Presidency and Beyond,’ which was adapted from remarks Kavanaugh made at the University of Minnesota Law School on October 17, 2008—about two weeks before the presidential election that year, which Barack Obama won.
In the article’s footnotes: Kavanaugh wrote: “I derived my suggestions from working in the executive and judicial branches for many years, from collaborating closely with the legislative branch on certain issues while I served in the executive branch, and from teaching separation of powers law at Harvard Law School for the last two years.”
Note: Kavanaugh launched his career as a law clerk working under Judge Ken Starr, whom Kavanaugh assisted with his investigation of President Bill Clinton including drafting the Starr Report recommending Clinton’s impeachment.