Kavanaugh: I was trying to follow Supreme Court precedent on parental consent.
Blumenthal: I want to talk about Trump's May 2016 list of potential nominees. You were on November 2017 test. His litmus test for that list was that the justice would have to automatically overturn Roe v. Wade.
Behind Blumenthal is a timeline of Trump's list, and connecting the November 2017 list to the timing of the earlier abortion case.
Blumenthal: What else occurred between these two lists?
Kavanaugh: Trump had taken office, Don McGahn had become White House counsel.
Blumenthal is suggesting that the Garza v. Hargan opinions were essentially an audition for the Supreme Court list.
Also, Kavanaugh says, lawyers made clear to the administration that I should be considered, and I appreciate that.
Blumenthal: And maybe more than a few of them cited your dissent in Garza.
Blumenthal: Three times in that dissent you used the phrase, abortion on demand. That's a codeword in the anti-choice community and used by Scalia and Thomas in their dissents from Supreme Court opinions that affirm Roe v. Wade. It is a word used in the anti-choice community.
Blumenthal: You refer to Roe v. Wade as "existing" Supreme Court precedent, not as Roe v. Wade protecting Jane Doe's right to privacy or an abortion.
A new sign says "abortion on demand" and "existing Supreme Court precedent."
Blumenthal states that the wording of Kavanaugh's dissent in Garza signals a hostility to abortion and a willingness to overturn Roe v Wade.
Blumenthal: It's not common to refer to "existing" Supreme Court precedent unless planning to overturn it, as if introducing a wife as "my current wife."
Blumenthal: Dissent says both sides have assumed that Doe has a right to obtain an abortion, without saying she actually has that right.
Kavanaugh: I'm not familiar with codewords. I am familiar with Chief Justice Burger's concurrence in Roe v. Wade, in which he said that the court does not today uphold abortion on demand.
Blumenthal: Let's be blunt, it was a signal to the Federalist Society that you are prepared to overturn Roe v. Wade. "Abortion on demand" has a very specific meaning in the dissents after Roe.
Kavanaugh: Some legal scholars have undoubtedly expressed skepticism of Roe, but that's difference from what I would do as a judge.
Kavanaugh: Planned Parenthood v. Casey affirmed Roe but also upheld some of the restrictions on abortion. Casey in the undue burden standard reached a position that allowed some regulations on abortion.
Blumenthal: That's the point. You were telling Trump that you would make the list of people who would overturn Roe.
Kavanaugh: I did not join separate opinion of another dissenter saying no constitutional right to abortion for this minor.
Kavanaugh: It wasn't my policy. I was reviewing the policy set forth by the government.
Blumenthal: Can you commit that you would never overturn Roe v. Wade?
Kavanaugh: Each of the justices ...
Blumenthal, cutting him off: I understand your answer. You've given it before. But you can see from the pattern here that your response leaves in serious question your commitment to this precedent. A young woman's health was put in serious question. She came close to losing the opportunity to even have the option of abortion.
Blumenthal: You've taken the position in Seven-Sky that the president may decline to enforce a statute that regulates private individuals when he deems the statute unconstitutional, even if court has or would hold it constitutional.
Blumenthal is now listing various pre-existing conditions. You have not answered, Blumenthal says, that you wouldn't say whether or not the president would have authority to decide not to enforce it. Do you believe the president could decline to enforce that statute even if the Supreme Court upholds it.
Kavanaugh: I was referring to the concept of prosecutorial discretion.
Blumenthal: Even if the Supreme Court holds aspect of the Affordable Care Act in Texas case constitutional, could Trump decline to enforce it?
Kavanaugh: Concept of prosecutorial discretion is well-rooted in American law.
Blumenthal: We're not talking about that. We're talking about that law, or a civil rights statute, or a consumer-protection or anti-corruption statute. Not in selective cases, across the board.
Kavanaugh -- in several of these cases, there are private causes of action as well.
Kavanaugh: The limits of prosecutorial discretion are uncertain.
Blumenthal: My point is that there are no limits here.
Blumenthal: I want to talk about the Second Amendment. My state has a tragic history with gun violence. Every community in the whole country has some experience. 90 people every day die from it. I am deeply troubled by your position on this issue.
Deeply troubled by Kavanaugh's position that any weapon in common use is protected under the Second Amendment.
Blumenthal: Assault weapons are in common use. They are commonly used to kill people. What's your justification for a view that gun regulations have to be long-standing?
Kavanaugh: I got the test from Supreme Court precedent.
Kavanaugh is going through aspects of his Heller opinion.
Time for Sen. Flake, R-Arizona.
Flake: In addition to your mother, who are your judicial heroes?
Kavanaugh: Justice Kennedy, a model of independence, civility, collegiality
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