To the Editor:

First and foremost, Justice Kavanaugh’s initial nomination at least appears corrupt. In 2012, he decided in favor of President Trump’s businesses, voting with his fellow justices to overturn an overwhelming pro-union vote among workers at his Atlantic City casino. That decision was criticized thereafter even by former Republican officials as lacking even the barest of legal foundations.

His partisanship is also well-known. He served under Ken Starr in his special counsel investigation into President Clinton, where he allegedly leaked sensitive information to the media in order to hurt the other party. After that stint, he served on then-Governor George Bush’s legal team during the Bush v. Gore recount effort, only to be rewarded afterward with a high-level White House staff position. That led to his 2006 nomination to the D.C. Circuit Court, one of the most important in the country.

Oddly enough, he has also argued that the president should be “excused from some of the burdens of ordinary citizenship,” meaning that presidents would be immune to investigations of their potential crimes until after leaving office. He’s publicly pondered that President Richard Nixon was right, that he should’ve been able to withhold information about the Watergate break-in to maintain his office and political power. With the potential for constitutional issues arising from the special counsel investigation currently ongoing, his impulse is to yield to presidential authority. He wants to empower the federal executive branch with Trump at its head.

On gay marriage, Kavanaugh simply called the historic Obergefell v. Hodges a precedent and refused to state his personal legal opinion on its constitutionality. Given how he is replacing Justice Anthony Kennedy’s deciding vote in that case, his new position is especially alarming for gay rights. Further, he’s made a point of going after the rights of native Hawaiians, stating that they should be treated on a separate basis than other native tribes. For Roe v. Wade, he’s publicly praised various Supreme Court dissents filed by past justices arguing that a women’s right to choose is not a protected right, and should rather be left to states to decide.

Aside from those horrors, he’s an accused sexual predator and accused belligerent drunk.

Now, we enter dire straits for our Constitution. Kavanaugh’s confirmation for the Supreme Court comes courtesy of corporate mainstream Democrats and spineless Republicans, a bipartisan coalition of shame. We need to turn out in November and vote in a Congress that will investigate the crimes and corruption of Justice Kavanaugh and compel his resignation. If not, we must elect leaders in 2018 and 2020 committed to his impeachment and removal from our Supreme Court. With the Constitution on our side and the people united, we can win and create a country with real equal justice for all.

Sincerely,

Will Harmer, Treasurer for Our Revolution UMass Amherst