Having secured the crucial endorsement of GOP swing vote Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the Senate now votes to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, after the embattled Judge finally secured the necessary votes to become the next Associate Justice.
Kavanaugh overcame allegations of sexual assault in the early 1980s – ranging from groping to “gang bang mastermind.” The claims were levied against Kavanaugh at the 11th hour, following several weeks of testimony to vet the highly accomplished Supreme Court nominee – President Trump’s second after Justice Neil Gorsuch.
With Kavanaugh’s ascension to the highest court in the land, liberals have raised concerns that a firmly conservative Supreme Court may roll back abortion rights, outlaw affirmative action, protect religious rights and limit federal regulatory power.
Kavanaugh’s work on a federal appeals court suggests he will align with his four fellow Republican appointees in ideologically divisive cases. Kavanaugh will succeed the retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, the court’s swing vote for the last decade. –Bloomberg
“It is quite possible we will have not just a conservative court, but an aggressively conservative court — a court that would not merely refrain from protecting civil rights, but one that may be poised affirmatively to strike down progressive state and federal laws and regulations for decades to come,” said Walter Dellinger, Bill Clinton’s top Supreme Court attorney
That said, Kavanaugh says he considers the landmark abortion legislation of Roe v. Wade as “important precedent” and “settled law.”
Also of concern to the left is how a decidedly conservative Supreme Court would weigh in over a presidential subpoena in the Mueller investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 US election. The Supreme Court has never said whether a president is required to obey a DOJ subpoena to testify in a criminal investigation.
The USSC may also weigh in on pending appeals to decide whether federal law outlaws employers from discriminating on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation, as well as Trump’s efforts to roll back deportation protections for undocumented migrants.
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