"It is not every day that a potential constitutional showdown over a presidential subpoena coincides with a confirmation hearing for a crucial Supreme Court seat. Less likely yet is a nominee who has written extensively about the very question at the heart of the dispute.
But that novel historical moment is here.
“It is not at all far-fetched to think that the question of whether President Trump must respond to a subpoena could come before the Supreme Court shortly after the confirmation process,” said Walter Dellinger, who served as acting United States solicitor general in the Clinton administration.
Mr. Trump’s choice for the court, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, has expressed strong support for executive power, hostility to administrative agencies and support for gun rights and religious freedom.
Those are all conventional positions among conservative lawyers and judges. But there is one stance that sets Judge Kavanaugh apart, and it could not be more timely: his deep skepticism of the wisdom of forcing a sitting president to answer questions in criminal cases.
(...)
Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Mr. Trump and his associates, raised the prospect of subpoenaing the president during a March meeting with his lead lawyer at the time, John Dowd. Mr. Trump’s lawyers responded that they were confident that they would prevail in a court fight over whether a sitting president could be required to comply with a subpoena.
If Mr. Mueller goes down that road, the dispute could quickly reach the Supreme Court. And if Judge Kavanaugh is on the court by then, it could thrust him into the middle of an issue he has been wrestling with for most of his adult life.
Some Democrats have called on Judge Kavanaugh to promise to recuse himself from Supreme Court cases involving Mr. Trump. But the fact that a nominee has written about a legal issue would not ordinarily require him to disqualify himself, said Stephen I. Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas."
Read More: Showdown on a Trump Subpoena Could Overshadow Brett Kavanaugh’s Confirmation (NYT)