EPIC FOIA Lawsuit: Kavanaugh at White House Defended Warrantless Surveillance

New emails released in EPIC's lawsuit show that Justice Kavanaugh, as a White House adviser, defended the controversial warrantless wiretapping program that Congress ended in 2015. Following a New York Times article which revealed government wiretapping without judicial authority, Kavanaugh circulated legal justifications for the program. The emails obtained by EPIC also show that Kavanaugh and then Justice Department lawyer Neil Gorsuch placed a USA Today op-ed defending the program. In the nomination hearing for the federal appeals court, Kavanaugh downplayed his role in the wiretapping program, though judge Kavanaugh later defended the NSA program based on a novel legal theory that leading scholars disputed. Documents previously obtained by EPIC revealed that Kavanaugh exchanged hundreds of emails with White House and DOJ staff about the NSA surveillance program.