Senate Democratic Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer released an immediate statement announcing his opposition to Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination.
Schumer said in a statement provided to PoliticusUSA:
In selecting Judge Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court, President Trump has put reproductive rights and freedoms and health care protections for millions of Americans on the judicial chopping block. His own writings make clear that he would rule against reproductive rights and freedoms, and that he would welcome challenges to the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.
President Trump repeatedly promised to nominate justices to the bench who are hostile to Roe v. Wade, and who will undermine our health care laws. He has picked Judge Kavanaugh from a list of 25 people who were vetted and approved by the Federalist Society and Heritage Foundation – special interest groups devoted to overturning Roe and striking down the Affordable Care Act. With this pick, the president is making good on his pledge to ‘punish’ women for their choices. Judge Kavanaugh got the nomination because he passed this litmus test, not because he’ll be an impartial judge on behalf of all Americans. If he were to be confirmed, women’s reproductive rights would be in the hands of five men on the Supreme Court.
The Senate has come together on a bipartisan basis to protect women’s reproductive rights and to protect health care for millions of Americans before – including those with pre-existing conditions. We need to do it again. I will oppose Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination with everything I have, and I hope a bipartisan majority will do the same. The stakes are simply too high for anything less.
If Americans believe in a woman’s right to make her own reproductive choices, and that health insurance companies shouldn’t be able to charge people more based on pre-existing conditions, now is the time to fight. I’m calling on Americans from all walks of life to make their voices heard from now until the end of this battle.
This nomination could alter the balance of the court in favor of powerful special interests and against working families for a generation, and would take away labor, civil, and human rights from millions of Americans. We cannot let that happen. If we can successfully block this nomination, it could lead to a more independent, moderate selection that both parties could support.
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) said in a statement to PoliticusUSA, ““As a member of the United States Senate, I take my constitutional responsibility to advise and consent seriously, just as I take my responsibility to defend the interests and ideals of New Jersey families seriously. I cannot support a nominee culled from the rightwing wish lists of the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society. We need a Justice who will follow the rule of law not the rule of Trump, especially when the future of reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, voting rights, workers’ rights, and the civil rights of all Americans are on the line.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said, “The justices of the Supreme Court should be selected based on the wisdom, experience, and values they bring to the job, not hand-picked by ideological organizations committed to rolling back the ability of women, minorities, workers, and consumers to participate fully and freely in society. To safeguard the rights of all Americans and our founding vision of a ‘We the People’ nation, Americans must rise up and make their voices heard in the U.S. Senate.”
Democrats are saying no to Kavanaugh, which means that the fight has just begun.
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Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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