On the anniversary of 9/11, Justice Brett Kavanaugh appeared on a Notre Dame panel marking 25 years since that day’s horrific terrorist attacks. In remarks that have since been extensively covered, Kavanaugh reflected alongside other panelists on his experience the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, and how the nation changed in its aftermath.
As then-associate counsel to President George W. Bush, Kavanaugh described gathering in the counsel’s office after the first plane hit in a meeting that seemed (as he put it) “sufficiently unusual.” After the second plane hit, he and others from the counsel’s office were told to go down to the basement, before quickly being told to leave the building by Secret Service. “Seared in my memory is the Secret Service agent saying, ‘Run, sprint, ladies, take off your heels and sprint,’ and we were all sprinting out the gate toward Lafayette Park,” Kavanaugh said. “We didn’t have anywhere to go, and so we gathered … a group of us kept walking up Connecticut Avenue. The Mayflower Hotel had TVs on, and we were watching there. … as we watched the tower fall, and just imagining and trying to comprehend the tragedy and the loss of life.”
Kavanaugh then detailed assembling in an office building with other White House staff and looking at the administration’s immediate response. Among other things, he recalled White House counsel Alberto Gonzales calling to tell the team to research emergency powers of the president. In an interview with USA Today, Kavanaugh called 9/11 “the most memorable, searing, important day in my life for the country and for me.”
At Notre Dame, Kavanaugh also spoke of Sept. 12, 2001, when “Bush made clear to everyone in the country that this will never happen again in the United States,” and Sept. 14, when Bush gave an address at the National Cathedral. Kavanaugh said he had watched the video that morning and encouraged students who were born after 9/11 to do the same. He then detailed Bush going up to New York and meeting with rescue workers at Ground Zero before speaking at a mosque in the capital.
Toward the end of the panel, Kavanaugh said to not let the ensuing controversy over the Iraq war “detract from your understanding of the potential for unity and the shared values.” “[T]he reason they attacked us is because they hate our Constitution, which I carry with me all the time. They hate our values. They hate our freedom of religion. They hate our freedom of speech, and we have preserved that in the 25 years since. We’ve preserved a lot as a country and thrived as a country, notwithstanding what happened.”
The aftermath of 9/11, of course, continues to this day – including at the Supreme Court. As Kelsey noted in her article about 9/11-related cases that have come before the court, the justices will review two new petitions on the topic – concerning plea agreements men who allegedly participated in the attacks reached with prosecutors – during their “long conference” a week from today.
