Amnesty International calls to halt Kavanaugh nomination

Amnesty International is calling on senators to to halt the
nomination of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh over his
“possible involvement” in human rights violations after the
terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

The human rights organization wrote in a Monday letter that
Kavanaugh might have been involved “in issues related to torture
and rendition after 9/11.”

“More information must be made public to determine Kavanaugh’s
role in relation to such practices,” the organization wrote.
“Amnesty International has long called for declassification of any
documents or other materials depicting or describing enforced
disappearance, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or other human rights violations, including acts of
abduction and rendition, by US or non-US personnel after the
attacks in the USA on September 11, 2001.”

Kavanaugh was working in the George W. Bush administration at
the time of the attacks.

Amnesty International is calling for a freeze on Kavanaugh’s
confirmation process until those documents are released publicly,
calling the vetting of Kavanaugh’s human rights record
“insufficient.”

The organization said the vote on Kavanaugh should be “further
postponed unless and until any information relevant to Kavanaugh’s
possible involvement in human rights violations—including in
relation to the U.S. government’s use of torture and other forms of
ill-treatment, such as during the CIA detention program—is
declassified and made public.”

Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and
Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) in an August letter made a similar request,
calling for the declassification of documents from Kavanaugh’s time
in the White House after 9/11. The senators claimed he was more
involved in those controversial policies than he originally let
on.

Two publicly available documents cast doubt on Kavanaugh’s
assertion that he was not involved in the United States’ post-9/11
counterterrorism policy, the senators wrote.

The senators wrote that “in 2006, Judge Kavanaugh told the
[Senate Judiciary] Committee under oath that he was ‘not aware of
any issues’” regarding post-9/11 policies, including the treatment
of detainees and the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping
program.

“At least two documents that are publicly available on the Bush
Library website from Judge Kavanaugh’s time as Staff Secretary
suggest that he was involved in issues related to torture and
rendition after 9/11,” the senators wrote, citing two documents
that seem to indicate Kavanaugh was looped into conversations about
polices regarding torture.

Amnesty International does not typically weigh in on the
appointment of individuals to government positions unless they “are
reasonably suspected of crimes under international law,” according
to the Monday letter.