Brett Kavanaugh: Trump's nominee for crucial Supreme Court position vows to be 'neutral and impartial arbiter’

The man who could reshape America’s legal landscape for decades to come - Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh - has vowed to be “a neutral and impartial arbiter”.

The 53-year-old judge, who many believe could cement a conservative bias on the US’s highest court and overturn long-held rights such as access to abortion, will tell the court he would be a “team player on the team of nine”.

“A good judge must be an umpire - a neutral and impartial arbiter who favours no litigant or policy,” he will tell senators, according to excerpts of remarks released by the White House.

“I don’t decide cases based on personal or policy preferences. I am not a pro-plaintiff or pro-defendant judge. I am not a pro-prosecution or pro-defence judge. I am a pro-law judge.”

The excerpts were released by the White House shortly before the man who is poised to become Donald Trump’s second appointment to the Supreme Court in less than two years, shortly before he was due to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The hearing is likely to be contentious and Democrats on the committee, among them Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Schumer have vowed to to press the Appeals Court judge on his views on abortion, executive power and whether Mr Trump could be forced to testify as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

In his statement, which is due to be read to the committee later on Tuesday after opening statements from senators, the father-of-two will also pay tribute to Justice Anthony Kennedy, the 81-year-old justice who was frequently a swing voter on the court and whose announced his retirement in June and whose vacancy Mr Kavanaugh is seeking to fill.

“To me, Justice Kennedy is a mentor, a friend, and a hero,” Mr Kavanaugh said. “As a member of the court, he was a model of civility and collegiality. He fiercely defended the independence of the judiciary. And he was a champion of liberty.”

Mr Kavanaugh also pledged to be a “team player”.

“If confirmed to the court, I would be part of a team of nine, committed to deciding cases according to the constitution and laws of the United States. I would always strive to be a team player on the team of nine.

Mr Kavanaugh has served for the past 12 years on the appeals court in Washington DC which the Associated Press said was considered the second most important court in the country after the Supreme Court. He has a solidly conservative record, including a dissenting opinion last year that would have denied immediate access to an abortion for an immigrant teenager in federal custody.

Mr Kavanaugh worked in key White House positions when George Bush was president and was a member of independent counsel Kenneth Starr's legal team that investigated President Bill Clinton in the late 1990s, leading to Mr Clinton's impeachment.

While Democrats are fearful about the impact Mr Kavanaugh on undermining such long-held legal rights such as access to safe abortion, there is little likelihood they will be able to prevent him being confirmed and of Mr Trump’s being able to celebrate his second appointment to the court, following the conformation last year of conservative Neil Gorsuch.

After being questioned by senators on Wednesday, he is all but certain to be approved by the committee. He will then subsequently be confirmed by a simple majority in the Senate, which Republicans control