Kavanaugh argued for lie detector tests in past

Washington – Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh played down the importance and reliability of lie detector tests during his confirmation hearing. But he had a different tune just two years ago.

As Kavanaugh’s testimony was winding down Thursday, Sen. Kamala Harris, a California Democrat, asked Kavanaugh whether he had taken a polygraph examination.

Kavanaugh said he’d be willing to do whatever the Judiciary Committee wanted, but added that polygraphs can’t be used in federal court because “they’re not reliable.”

But the judge wrote in 2016 that polygraph tests were an “important law enforcement tool.”

Kavanaugh wrote the unanimous opinion for the United States Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., finding that the Defense Department could withhold reports about whether lie detector tests were effective under the federal public records law.