Statement: Rep. Mike Capuano's Statement on President Trump's Nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to serve on the Supreme Court

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Print Version-Rep. Mike Capuano's Statement on President Trump's Nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to serve on the Supreme Court

STATEMENT

Rep. Mike Capuano's Statement on President Trump's Nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to serve on the Supreme Court

July 9, 2018

President Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to serve on the Supreme Court gives him an opportunity to reshape the direction of our country for generations, a prospect that troubles me greatly. If you care about issues such as voting rights, reproductive freedom, consumer protection, worker rights, LGBTQ rights, privacy, or civil rights then Trump's nomination of Judge Kavanaugh should concern you too. The Senate must not rush through this lifetime appointment. They have a Constitutional obligation to subject the nominee to serious scrutiny, to study his record, read his decisions and consider how his reasoning could affect our lives and liberties.

Candidate Trump pledged time and again to only nominate judges who would overturn Roe v. Wade and who would roll back the Affordable Care Act. In the space of just one week last month, overturning years of precedent, the Court voted to support racial gerrymandering, undermine unions, uphold Trump’s anti-Muslim travel ban, and side with anti-abortion clinics. All that was with a relatively moderate Justice Kennedy on the Court. The Supreme Court has the power to shape the law, perhaps, more than any other institution today. Its rulings must be followed by all federal courts, it decides cases involving executive power and disputes among the states. The Supreme Court will almost certainly have a role in deciding at least some of the issues concerning the Trump family’s ethics violations and conflicts of interest, issues involving Russian interference in our elections, and whether or not to uphold the Administration’s regulatory rollbacks — from healthcare to the environment to immigration. This President is embroiled in controversy and there shouldn’t be a rush to confirm his appointee who may, one day, have to rule on criminal complaints against him.

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