Leading Democracy Groups Highlight Questions for Judge Kavanaugh

In Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump has nominated a Supreme Court justice who’ll vote with the Court’s conservatives to further entrench the power of wealthy donors and corporate interests in our political system. Kavanaugh “has regularly sided with wealthy special interests and against basic protections for workers and consumers. Those same special interests have already begun a multi-million dollar campaign to push him through confirmation,” Every Voice’s David Donnelly said in a statement. The Times notes conservatives have “applauded” his decisions on issues like “campaign finance.”

And, “Hundreds of activists gathered on the steps of the United States Supreme Court on Monday night to protest Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy.”

Common Cause: “the Senate must focus on core principles of democracy as it decides whether to give its consent to this lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.” In Politico, the Brennan Center’s Michael Waldman writes “it’s an alarming day for the law of democracy.”

Campaign Legal Center noted that “Kavanaugh’s skepticism of reasonable limits on money in politics threatens the ability of federal, state and local governments to maintain laws that regulate campaign contributions and spending and require disclosure of where all the money is coming from.” And Demos said, “He joined in the watershed opinion that created Super PACs. And he has written that the president should not be subject to criminal investigations while in office.” Here’s a story on the discriminatory voter ID law he voted to uphold.

American Constitution Society’s Carolina Frederickson and CREW’s Norm Eisen have this op-ed in the Times: “But the Senate must also explore a question central to evaluating the judge’s commitment to the rule of law: Does he have the requisite independence from President Trump to serve as a check on his abuses of power?”

This post originally appeared at Every Voice.