Graham Kavanaugh Transcript with some sauce
Graham: So when someone says that post 9/11, and that we’ve been at war and it’s called the War on Terrorism, do you generally agree with that concept?
Kavanaugh: I do senator, because Congress passed the authorization for use of military force, which is still in effect and that was passed of course on September 14 2001, three days later.
>https://www.gpo .gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-107publ40/pdf/PLAW-107publ40.pdf
Graham: Let’s talk about law and war, is there a body of law called the Law of Armed Conflict?
Kavanaugh: There is such a body senator
>https://www.loc .gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/pdf/LOAC-Deskbook-2015.pdf
Graham: Is there a body of law called Basic Criminal Law?
Kavanaugh: Yes sir.
Graham: Are there differences between those two bodies of law?
Kavanaugh: Yes Senator.
Graham: From an American citizen’s point of view, do your constitutional rights follow you? If you’re in Paris, does the American Forth Amendment protect you as an American from your own government?
Kavanaugh: From your own government? Yes.
Graham: Okay. So, if you’re in Afghanistan, do your constitutional rights protect you against your own government?
Kavanaugh: If you’re an American in Afghanistan you have constitutional rights as against the US Government.
Graham: Is there a long standing…
Kavanaugh: That’s, that’s long settled law
Graham: Isn’t there also a long settled law that, goes back to the Eisentrager case? I can’t remember the name of it…
Kavanaugh: Johnson versus Eisentrager
>https://www.britannica .com/event/Johnson-v-Eisentrager
Graham:n Right. That American Citizens who collaborate with the enemy have been considered enemy combatants.
Kavanaugh: They can be.
Graham: They can be.
Kavanaugh: They’re often some, they’re sometimes criminally prosecuted, sometimes treated in the military…
Graham: Let’s talk about can be. I think the…
Kavanaugh: Under Supreme Court precedent. Just want to make, ya.
Graham: Right. There’s a Supreme Court decision that said that American citizens who collaborated with NAZI saboteurs were tried by the military. Is that correct?
Kavanaugh: That is correct
Graham: I think a couple of them were executed.
Kavanaugh: Yeah.
Graham: So, if anybody doubts there’s a long standing history in this country that your constitutional rights follow you wherever you go, but you don’t have a constitutional right to turn on your own government and collaborate with the enemy of the nation. You’ll be treated differently. What’s the name of the case? If you can recall, that reaffirmed the concept that you could hold one of our own as an enemy combatant if they were engaged in terrorist activities in Afghanistan? Are you familiar with that case?
Kavanaugh: Hamdi.
>https://www.casebriefs .com/blog/law/criminal-procedure/criminal-procedure-keyed-to-saltzburg/trial-and-trial-related-rights/hamdi-v-rumsfeld/
Graham: Okay. So, the bottom line is on every American citizen you have constitutional rights, but you do not have a constitutional right to collaborate with an enemy. There’s a body of law, developed long before 9/11 that understood the difference between basic criminal law and law of armed conflict. Do you understand those differences?
Kavanaugh: I do understand those differences. That they’re different bodies of law, of course senator.
Graham: Okay. If you’re confirmed and I believe you will be. What is your hope when all this is said and done and your time is up, how would you like to be remembered?