Blog Post

Three Things You Should Know About Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh

On Monday, President Trump announced Judge Brett Kavanaugh as his pick to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh came from Trump’s nominee shortlist, which means he passed the egregious litmus test required by President Trump: a willingness to overturn Roe v. Wade and dismantle the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
But it’s not just Trump’s horrifying promise to anti-abortion extremists that has us alarmed about Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh’s record plainly shows that if confirmed to the Supreme Court, he will launch relentless attacks on our reproductive rights. Here are just a few reasons why we need to tell your senators to oppose Kavanaugh’s nomination:

1. Like we said, he passed Trump’s litmus test. In order to be considered to fill Kennedy’s seat, Kavanaugh needed to pass a litmus test designed to appease Trump’s extreme base: he needed to be ready to gut Roe v. Wade.  Kavanaugh knew about this test, which is why he effectively auditioned for the spot. He wasn’t on Trump’s short list until he did this:
2. He ruled to block Jane Doe from getting an abortion. Last year, a 17-year-old immigrant girl (Jane Doe) came to the United States without her parents. When Doe discovered that she was pregnant she decided to have an abortion. But the Office of Refugee Resettlement, led be Trump appointee Scott Lloyd, decided to hold her hostage for three weeks, refusing to allow her to leave the shelter where she was detained in order to get her abortion. The ACLU sued on Jane’s behalf, and when the case made it to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Kavanaugh ruled against Doe. Kavanaugh’s decision was overturned by the full court a few days later, and he wrote a lengthy dissent standing by his decision.  Kavanaugh would have forced Doe to continue the pregnancy while waiting for a sponsor—a process that can take months. A delay of only a few weeks would have pushed Jane past the point when she could no longer legally obtain an abortion in the state of Texas  After weeks of stalling; Doe had the abortion that is every individual’s Constitutional right under Roe — in spite of Kavanaugh. If he receives a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, we should be prepared for more of the same.
3. He believes your boss should make decisions about your birth control. Kavanaugh’s list of egregious opinions includes one from 2015 that shows he thinks employers’ religious beliefs should override individual’s right to birth control coverage. He dissented when his colleagues on the appeals court voted to uphold the so-called accommodation to the birth control benefit, which allows certain non-profit employers with objections to birth control to opt-out of the benefit while still ensuring employees receive birth control coverage. Kavanaugh argued that the process of simply opting out of benefit substantially burdened the employer’s religious exercise. If that sounds ridiculous to you, fear not: that means you’re reading it right.

It’s not just enough to talk about the bad things Judge Kavanaugh has done. It’s up to all of us to make sure that Judge Kavanaugh never makes it to the highest court in our nation. We’re counting on you to fight with us for the rights of women, people of color, LGBTQ people, people with disabilities, immigrants, and more. We’re counting on you to help us #SaveSCOTUS.