Washington, D.C.—In response to the first day of the hearings on Donald Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh, People For the American Way (PFAW) Executive Vice President Marge Baker issued the following statement:
“Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee made one thing clear today: they’re unwilling to let anything stop them from forcing Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination forward—not transparency, not committee rules, not the integrity of the Senate, not the will of the American people. Senator Grassley brushed aside requests for key documents from Kavanaugh’s time at the White House, ignored motions to adjourn, and managed to argue that his staff had reviewed 42,000 pages of documents last night alone. Republicans would rather that this hearing be treated as business-as-usual, but they could not address any of the concerns raised this morning about this corrupt, dishonest process.
“But the real question isn’t what went on inside the hearing room today—it’s what will happen to the millions of Americans whose lives will be affected should Brett Kavanaugh be confirmed to the Supreme Court. As Democrats on the committee made clear, ordinary people will pay the price if this nominee is confirmed: people with preexisting conditions, women who need reproductive healthcare including abortion, workers who want fair treatment on the job, voters who want politicians to work for them and not just billionaire donors.
“Donald Trump said he’d appoint a Supreme Court Justice who would dismantle the Affordable Care and ‘automatically’ overturn Roe v. Wade. He outsourced his choice to right-wing groups who have pushed a radical view of the constitution that would undermine Social Security and Medicaid. And he ultimately chose a nominee who believes the President should be above the law at exactly the time the rule of law is under threat the most.
“These are not normal times and this is not a normal Supreme Court nomination. It’s up to all of us to hold Republicans accountable for their efforts to rig our system in favor of the wealthy and powerful and against equal justice for all Americans.”
PFAW is also publishing regular fact checks throughout the hearings. Here are selected fact checks for Sept. 4, 2018:
- Kavanaugh Follows the Law without Respect to Parties? Nope.
- Grassley Says Kavanaugh’s Time as Staff Secretary is Irrelevant. Kavanaugh Disagrees.
- Judges Just Call Balls and Strikes. Not according to Brett Kavanaugh.
People For the American Way is a progressive advocacy organization founded to fight right-wing extremism and defend constitutional values including free expression, religious liberty, equal justice under the law, and the right to meaningfully participate in our democracy. Learn more: https://www.pfaw.org.
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