Have you been seeing organizations such as Planned Parenthood, Everytown, and Moms Demand Action protesting against Brett Kavanaugh? Here is why.
Brett Kavanaugh has served as a judge on the D.C. Court of Appeals since 2006. He has just been nominated by President Donald Trump to replace Supreme Court Justice, Anthony Kennedy.
Kavanaugh is a great threat to this nation just as much as Donald Trump. Kavanaugh has been accused of being too partisan by the Democratic senators in 2003. Brett is very conservative. He was involved in the Starr investigations that made the case for Clinton's impeachment in the 1990s. He also was part of George W. Bush's legal team that fought over the 2000 election recount. Bush suggested Kavanaugh for the D.C. Court of Appeals position.
Even though he has been accused of being partisan, he stated, "A judge must be independent and must interpret the law, not make the law," he said. "A judge must interpret statutes as written. And a judge must interpret the Constitution as written, informed by history and tradition and precedent."
So if Kavanaugh gets confirmed by the Senate, here's what will happen.
Brett Kavanagh has a reputation for being an originalist, so he is going to address issues with this mindset. The issues that he will "tackle" are abortion, the second amendment, religious freedom, regulatory and executive power, and impeachment.
Let's discuss the biggest two being protested, Abortion and The 2nd Amendment.
Abortion is the largest controversy going on right now about Kavanaugh's nomination. Emails were leaked and his views on abortion have become more public. An email from March 24th, 2003 published in the New York Times stated, "I'm not sure that all legal scholars refer to Roe as the settled law of the land at the Supreme Court level since the Court can always overrule its precedent."
He now says after being penalized about the emails that "it's been reaffirmed many times over the past 45 years." But what does this mean he will do when it comes to abortion? Planned Parenthood is not in favor of this nominee. They have stated, "Judge Brett Kavanaugh is unfit to serve on the Supreme Court. His track record of anti-reproductive health care extremism seriously puts our constitutional right to abortion at risk — and we won't stand by." Kavanaugh also was caught saying "birth control is an 'abortion-inducing drug.'" Protests have been occurring daily including a very impacting one, on the first day of Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing, of women dressed in Handmaids Tale red cloaks.
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When it comes to the 2nd amendment, Kavanaugh has a very detailed record. Everytown for Gun Safety stated to Fox News, "Judge Kavanaugh has applied an extreme and dangerous interpretation of the Second Amendment when determining whether a law is constitutional, one that does not take into account a law's impact on public safety." After a case in 2008 called Heller v. D.C., it was found that the Second Amendment protects an individual's rights to bear arms. In a follow-up case, The U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Washington, D.C. could ban the procession of most semiautomatic rifles. Kavanaugh disagreed with this.
He wrote in a dissent: "In Heller, the Supreme Court held that handguns – the vast majority of which today are semi-automatic – are constitutionally protected because they have not traditionally been banned and are in common use by law-abiding citizens. There is no meaningful or persuasive constitutional distinction between semi-automatic handguns and semiautomatic rifles. Semi-automatic rifles, like semi-automatic handguns, have not traditionally been banned and are in common use by law-abiding citizens for self-defense in the home, hunting, and other lawful uses. Moreover, semiautomatic handguns are used in connection with violent crimes far more than semi-automatic rifles are. It follows from Heller's protection of semi-automatic handguns that semi-automatic rifles are also constitutionally protected and that D.C.'s ban on them is unconstitutional."
So we do not know truly what Kavanaugh stands for. When it comes to being on the Supreme Court, you need a clear interpretation.
That's what is so wrong with this nominee. With an opinion going one way then another, it leaves everyone worried. He has had dissents that lead to appeals. The New York Times says "He has written countless decisions applauded by conservatives on topics including the Second Amendment, religious freedom and campaign finance. But they have particularly welcomed his vigorous opinions hostile to administrative agencies, a central concern of the modern conservative legal movement."
In a dissent in January, Kavanaugh was recorded saying, "To prevent tyranny and protect individual liberty, the framers of the Constitution separated the legislative, executive and judicial powers of the new national government," Judge Kavanaugh wrote. "To further safeguard liberty, the framers insisted upon accountability for the exercise of executive power. The framers lodged full responsibility for the executive power in a president of the United States, who is elected by and accountable to the people."
Brett Kavanaugh is a nominee to worry about. We do not know his true agenda and we do not know whether or not he is going to be fair in a ruling. With his history, these are things to address and worry about. Our nation is already worrisome because of our president Donald Trump. Since he nominated Kavanaugh, should we trust him?
WRITERS NOTE: Since this article has been published, sexual allegations have come out about the subject of this piece, Brett Kavanaugh.