Trump’s Supreme Court nominee was heavily involved in Bush’s most controversial ‘War on Terror’ policies

When Judge Neil Gorsuch was a top official in President George W. Bush’s Justice Department, he was a key defender of some of the administration’s most controversial tactics in the “War on Terror.”

Gorsuch’s role in the Bush Administration has garnered renewed interest after the Senate Judiciary Committee requested the release of emails and documents from his time in the executive branch.

Gorsuch was selected by President Donald Trump to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by the late Antonin Scalia. His Senate confirmation hearing began Monday.

During Gorsuch’s 14 months as principal deputy associate attorney general from 2005 to 2006, he was a crucial architect of the legal defenses for Bush’s “War on Terror” policies following 9/11.

Gorsuch articulated legal justifications of Bush’s order to wiretap of Americans‘ international phone calls and emails without warrants, and of the administration’s practice of suspending habeas corpus for some detainees, The New York Times reported last week.

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