SCOTUS Brief

All things SCOTUS

Five Important Facts and Highlights Heading into the Kavanaugh Hearings

 

  1. Kavanaugh is a mainstream, independent judge with an extensive record of fairly applying the law.

    1. 12 years on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, issuing more than 300 opinions.
    2. The Supreme Court has endorsed his positions in high-stakes issues at unparalleled rate; thirteen Supreme Court decisions have endorsed positions advocated in his opinions.
    3. Kavanaugh returned the most comprehensive, bipartisan Senate questionnaire in Judiciary Committee history.
    4. The Senate Judiciary Committee has reviewed hundreds of thousands of documents—more than any other SCOTUS nominee.
    5. He decided to stop voting once he became a judge. “Some judges do not even vote, on the theory that to vote is a solemn expression (at least to yourself) of your political or policy affiliation and beliefs… after a short time as a judge, I ultimately chose [to stop voting].” http://confirmkavanaugh.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/BMK-Catholic-U-The-Judge-as-Umpire-Ten-Principles.pdf (p. 686)

 

  1. Kavanaugh has bipartisan support.

    1. From self-proclaimed liberal feminist Lisa Blatt to conservative senator Ted Cruz, from Reagan’s Attorney General Ed Meese to Obama’s Solicitor General Don Verrilli, everyone believes that Judge Kavanaugh is well qualified.
      • Former Obama Solicitor General Donald Verrilli calls Kavanaugh“brilliant,” “gracious,” and “a distinguished jurist by any measure.”
      • Bob Bennett, lawyer who represented Clinton during Lewinsky controversy: “Brett is an all-star in both his professional and his personal life… Socrates contended that a judge must do four things: listen courteously, answer wisely, consider soberly, and decide impartially. He must have been thinking of Brett Kavanaugh.”
      • A registered Democrat and former Kavanaugh clerk Kathryn Cherry said that Judge Kavanaugh “treats everyone equal, under the law.”
      • Former Reagan Attorney General Ed Meese: Judge Kavanaugh is ‘an originalist who is faithful to the Constitution.”
      • Neal Katyal, another former Obama Solicitor General (acting): “It’s very hard for anyone who has worked with [Judge Kavanaugh], appeared before him, to frankly say a bad word about him. This is an incredibly brilliant, careful person… In my practice, we basically have a rule that if there’s a Kavanaugh clerk who applies, we hire that person. He’s legendary for his preparation.”
      • U.S. Senator Ted Cruz: “The American people want strong, constitutionalist justices on the Supreme Court. For over a decade, Judge Kavanaugh has served as one of the most distinguished and respected federal judges in the country.”
      • Lisa Blatt, liberal feminist and former clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: “Democrats should quit attacking Kavanaugh—full stop. It is unbecoming to block him simply because they want to, and they risk alienating intelligent people who see the obvious: He is the most qualified conservative for the job.”
      • Yale Law School Professor Akhil Reed Amar, in a NY Times op-ed: “Several of Judge Kavanaugh’s most important ideas and arguments — such as his powerful defense of presidential authority to oversee federal bureaucrats and his skepticism about newfangled attacks on the property rights of criminal defendants — have found their way into Supreme Court opinions.”
      • Kay Coles James, President of the Heritage Foundation: “Judge Brett Kavanaugh is known for many things – and fairness, impartiality, and faithfulness to the Constitution are chief among them.”

 

  1. Polls show support for confirming Kavanaugh in red states with Democrat incumbents up for re-election.

    1. Politico story: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/24/kavanaugh-battleground-states-senate-supreme-court-795276 Voters in three conservative states where Senate Democrats are up for reelection want their senators to support Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, according to a new poll obtained by POLITICO. … The poll, taken in mid-August and commissioned by the Judicial Crisis Network, a group working to confirm Kavanaugh, found that 60 percent of registered voters in North Dakota want Kavanaugh confirmed, compared to 23 percent who do not. In Indiana, 46 percent of voters want the nominee approved compared to 32 percent against. And 51 percent of West Virginians want Kavanaugh confirmed compared to 32 percent in opposition. Independents in each state favored Kavanaugh by similar margins.
    2. Quinnipiac National Poll: The Q-Poll – released August 15th – showed a substantial swing in support for confirming Kavanaugh since their July 25thpoll release.  Among Independents a surge from -6 to +8, a swing of 14 points in Kavanaugh’s favor. Among women a similar surge from -14 to just -3, a swing of 11 points in Kavanaugh’s favor. Overall, he went from -1 (40-41%) to +5 (44-33%), clearly with the help from Independents and women. Here are links to both polls:

 

  1. Kavanaugh has support across key states.

    1. West Virginia – Wheeling News-Register Editorial: Manchin should back nominee
      • “Kavanaugh has said that if confirmed to the Supreme Court, his allegiance will be to the Constitution as it is written, not to his personal preferences. That is precisely what the nation needs. (click here to view more support in West Virginia)
    2. North Dakota – Op-ed: Kavanaugh is qualified and in line with North Dakota Values (click here for more support in North Dakota)
    3. Indiana – Column in Fort Wayne Journal Gazette: Time for Donnelly to choose
      • “Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly has been engaged in an intense game of Whac-A-Mole – trying to knock down all the threats to a successful re-election bid. The latest, and perhaps one of the most difficult moles to whack, will be his vote on President Donald Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court…Ironically, Kavanaugh’s confirmation may also make or break Donnelly’s re-election bid. And the moles will just keep coming. That, not how Kavanaugh may rule on any single issue, ought to be Manchin’s concern. And if he determines the nominee will be an impartial arbiter, Manchin should vote for confirmation.”
        1. (click here for more support in Indiana)

 

  1. Democrats’ Demagoguery and Desperation.

    1. SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): “You are either complicit in the evil, you are either contributing to the wrong, or you are fighting against it.” (Sen. Booker, Press Conference, 7/24/2018) Booker’s presser this week stating that Kavanaugh supporters are complicit in evil. Then he must have realized he went too far and backtracked telling people to love others…
    2. SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): “I will oppose him with everything I’ve got.” (CBS’ “CBS This Morning,” 7/10/2018
    3. SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D-HI): “[I]t doesn’t matter who he is …” (CNN’s “The Situation Room,” 6/27/2018)
    4. SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA): “We’re looking at a destruction of the Constitution of the United States …” (MSNBC’s “Hardball,” 6/27/2018)
    5. SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D-OR): “This is a nominee who wants to pave the path to tyranny.”(Sen. Merkley, Center for American Progress Rally at Supreme Court, 7/09/2018)
    6. SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): “His nomination is a threat to people of color, to women, to workers, to the LGBTQ community, to people living in poverty.” (Repairers of the Breach, Facebook, 7/24/2018)

 

For more information about Judge Kavanaugh and the Judicial Crisis Network’s efforts on behalf of his confirmation, please visit [confirmkavanaugh.com]ConfirmKavanaugh.com.

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