On July 9, 2018 Brett Kavanaugh was officially announced as the nominee for Supreme Court Justice of the United States. Kavanaugh has nearly 30 years of experience within the legal field. In 2003 he was nominated to the D.C. Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals, however; taking three years to confirm his appoints, Kavanaugh did not officially begin his position until 2006. With twelve years of working the Court of Appeals, Kavanaugh has demonstrated considerable experience in the legal field. Yet, despite his resume, Kavanaugh still poses a major threat to several aspects of the US Constitution if he is appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Kavanaugh has one of the most conservative voting records of any judge on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. With a republican controlled House and Senate, this could indicate trouble for several issues including Roe v. Wade and the Separation of Church and State.
In his time on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, Kavanaugh provided the dissenting opinion in the case of Priests for Life v. Dep’t of Health and Human Services. During his early September confirmation hearing, when asked about the case, Kavanaugh referred to birth control as “abortion-inducing drugs”, the same language used by the Priests for Life during the appeal.
Despite the lack of scientific evidence supporting the claim that bird control is a an abortion inducing drug, Kavanaugh has not wavered in his stance. This broad generalization coupled with his conservative voting record indicates potential concern for Roe v. Wade, especially considering Trump’s determination to overturn the critical supreme court case.
Kavanaugh also supports prayer in public school, a practice that is against the Separation of Church and State. Separation of Church and State dictates issues such as whether businesses have to provide birth control as a provision of their health care plan, whether businesses can refuse services to customers based on their sexuality, if schools can force children to pray, and so much more. The appointment of Kavanaugh could lead to the Supreme Court potentially hearing cases that may make the court consider backtracking on previous rulings.
In addition to all of this, before Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing began in early September, the Democratic members of the senate called for over 100,000 pages of documents from Kavanaugh’s time in the Bush Whitehouse to be released. The Bush Whitehouse waited until hours before the hearing was to begin before they released nearly 50 thousand pages worth of documents, giving the senators no time to thoroughly read over the documents before the confirmation hearings would begin.
Kavanaugh has also argued that he does not feel that the constitution allows for the indictment of a sitting US President, which almost directly refutes the ideals of impeachment laid out in the constitution. Since the Supreme Court upholds and interprets the constitution this could indicate potentially looser interpretations of the Constitution on other matters as well.
Kavanaugh’s conservative voting records coupled with his ideals on Church and State, and loose interpretations of the Constitution raise concern for the current standing on many Supreme Court rulings. Though he may hold years of experience, Kavanaugh’s speech and actions have proved he is not the most informed choice to be the next Supreme Court Justice of the United States.
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