Sanders to abortion rights supporters: 'Worry about Judge Kavanaugh'

Aki Soga | Burlington Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Trump Announces Supreme Court Nominee Kavanaugh President Donald Trump is nominating influential conservative Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court as he seeks to shift the nation's highest court further to the right. (July 9)

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Sen. Bernie Sander, I-Vt., and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., expressed concern about Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump's pick to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court.

"President Trump views the independent judiciary as a political branch. He sees the courts as an extension of his power, not a check against it. Yet Judge Kavanaugh’s record reveals an endorsement of this expansive view of presidential power," Leahy wrote in a statement released shortly after the Kavanaugh announcement Monday night.

More:

Sanders, who posted a video with his response on Facebook, said, "If you are an American who believes a woman has the right to control her own body, if you are one of the 70 percent of the people who believe that Roe v.Wade is a policy, a decision that should be maintained, worry about Judge Kavanaugh."

Roe v. Wade is the 1973 Supreme Court decision that recognized a woman's constitutional right to an abortion.

Welch called Kavanaugh's nomination "a reckless decision by President Trump to outsource his solemn responsibility to fill court vacancies to a right-wing group determined to advance his extreme agenda."

Both senators will have a vote in the Senate confirmation process for Kavanaugh.

The full text of the statements by members of Vermont's congressional delegation are below:

Leahy

I have served on the Senate Judiciary Committee for the nomination hearings of every sitting member of the Supreme Court. I have never seen so much at stake with a single seat as I do today. A woman’s right to make her own health decisions, marriage equality, efforts to curb global warming emissions, core post-9/11 civil liberties — all were upheld because of Justice Kennedy’s vote. All that, and much more, is at risk today. The Constitution doesn’t direct the President to nominate justices to the Supreme Court with the advice and consent of the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation. That is the role specified by the Constitution for the United States Senate. Yet the President has considered only individuals pre-approved by these far-right special interest groups — groups that seek to elevate the rights of corporations and the powerful over those of hardworking Americans, including by overturning the Affordable Care Act’s protections for those with preexisting conditions. Farming out this nomination to extreme ideologues only further divides our nation while threatening real harm to the Court’s independence. Based on an initial review of Judge Kavanaugh’s record, we are right to be concerned. President Trump views the independent judiciary as a political branch. He sees the courts as an extension of his power, not a check against it. Yet Judge Kavanaugh’s record reveals an endorsement of this expansive view of presidential power — views that ultimately may place the president above the law. And as a judge he has consistently attempted to dismantle environmental protections and to limit women’s rights. I also still have questions about how truthful he was during his 2006 confirmation hearing regarding his involvement in Bush-era detention policies. The heavy burden is now on Judge Kavanaugh to use his nomination hearing to be forthright with the American people. He must not evade fundamental questions that judicial nominees have answered for decades until recently. He needs to explain why we should believe he would be a justice for all Americans, independent of the President and the ideologically driven interest groups that selected him.

Sanders

Let us be clear: President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh will be a rubber-stamp for an extreme, right-wing agenda pushed by corporations and billionaires. The coming Senate debate over the replacement of retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy is about the future of Roe v. Wade, campaign finance reform, voting rights, workers' rights, health care, climate change, environmental protection and gun safety. Brett Kavanaugh, contrary to 200 years of Supreme Court precedent, believes a president 'may decline to enforce a statute . . . when the president deems the statute unconstitutional.' He ruled against a migrant teenager seeking to be released from custody in order to obtain an abortion. He believes a president can only be indicted after he leaves office and should not be subjected to civil suits while in office. He ruled the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was unconstitutional. And he would not uphold the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate. I do not believe a person with those views should be given a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court. We must mobilize the American people to defeat Trump’s right-wing, reactionary nominee."

Welch

“The nomination of Judge Kavanaugh is the result of a reckless decision by President Trump to outsource his solemn responsibility to fill court vacancies to a right-wing group determined to advance his extreme agenda. If confirmed, Judge Kavanaugh’s elevation will cement a right-wing majority on the Supreme Court for a generation or more. At risk are long-established civil liberties and hard-won rights and opportunities for women, minorities, LGBTQ Americans, workers, and many others. Our Founding Fathers established the judiciary as a separate and independent branch of government, not a rubber stamp for any president. It is more important now than ever that the Supreme Court fulfill its constitutional role as an independent check on the powers and policies of the executive branch. The Senate should reject this nomination and demand the president bring forth a new nominee in the historic tradition of an independent Supreme Court.”

T.J. Donovan

Thursday afternoon, before the nominee was announced, Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan issued a statement in support of "the principles of Roe V. Wade here in Vermont."

Donovan's full statement is below:

Justice Anthony Kennedy deserves our thanks for his decades of service and his support for civil rights and women’s health. Justice Kennedy’s resignation announcement has many implications, but perhaps none resonates more powerfully as the potential impact on a woman’s right to make decisions about her own health. The core principles of Roe v. Wade have held firm for over 40 years.

The government should not be invading very private conversations between a woman and her doctor. The government should not be controlling the choices a woman makes about her own body.

I call on Congress to ensure that any Supreme Court appointee values and respects Justice Kennedy’s legacy that women get to make decisions about their own bodies. We must not turn back the clock.

I also encourage the Vermont Legislature to consider legislation that would protect the principles of Roe v. Wade here in Vermont.

Aki Soga is engagement editor for The Burlington Free Press. Email him at asoga@freepressmedia.com or chat with him on Twitter: @asoga