Over the summer Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Anthony Kennedy, announced he would be retiring at the end of July, giving President Trump his second appointment to the Supreme Court. Shortly after Justice Kennedy’s announcement President Trump announced he would be nominating Brett Kavanaugh.
As a progressive Christian and person of color, when I heard that President Trump was going to nominate Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court I was alarmed because he has a concerning judicial record. If appointed to the court, he would cause a conservative majority threatening women’s rights, immigrants, LGBTQ rights, environment regulations, Native American, and other vulnerable populations. Decades of progress could be rolled back. Kavanaugh is 53 years old and could service on the court for decades to come, affecting decades of future decides. His resume makes it clear that his ideology does not support the rights of many vulnerable populations.
For example, since 2006 Kavanaugh has served as a judge in US Court of Appeals for the DC circuit and last year he wrote an opinion that demonstrates women rights are at danger if he is confirmed to the court. A 17-year-old immigrant women who was under federal custody for crossing the border sued the federal government because they denied her access to an abortion. Kavanaugh forced the immigrant women to continue carrying her pregnancy because it was not an “undue burden.”
Additionally, in comparison to the number of white evangelical leaders, evangelical leaders of color have not launched their support for Kavanaugh because they see dangers that a conservative court can have to the Hispanic and Black Christian community. Professor from the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota), Thomas Berg said in a article over summer “A lot of Black and Hispanic brothers and sisters will not appreciate the things that the conservative court is likely to do. These justices are more likely to restrict affirmative action. They’re more likely to reject claims of voting rights… White evangelicals haven’t seen those as part of their agenda.”
This is the second time President Trump has had the opportunity to appoint justice to the Supreme Court. He has the chances to change the narrative of the court with his two appointments by diversifying the court, which is dominated by white male appointments. In the history of the court, only six out of the 113 judge’s have been women or people of color. President Trump has not taken those chances. Furthermore, the process of the appointing a supreme court justice is becoming more partisan each time it is enacted; justices are confirmed by party lines instead of unanimous consent. President Trump’s last nominee, Neil Gorsuch, was confirmed by the Senate 54–45 votes, with three Democrats joining and all Republicans. If Kavanaugh is confirmed it will be though party lines, and the vote will be really close.
Also, two weeks ago a professor from California, Christine Blasey Ford has accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault accusations, that took place during a high school party in the nineteen-eighties. She is willing to testify before Senate Judiciary Committee. In light of the accusation, President Trump and the Senate leadership should pull back Kavanaugh’s nomination and conduct an investigation. He does not deserve the honor of serving in the Supreme Court with this kind of behavior. Instead, many Republican Senators and the President have rushed to come out and defend Kavanaugh. In the age of the #MeToo movement, we should not be doubting this type of accusations; they should be taken seriously.
In short we should not be appointing justices to the highest court of the land who present a threat to women rights, immigrants, Native American and other vulnerable populations.
Sergio is a senior majoring in interdisciplinary studies.