Opinion: Sen. Stabenow’s senseless, premature rejection of Kavanaugh

Ronald Weiser | The Detroit News

Mark down Sen. Debbie Stabenow as an ardent opponent of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.



Stabenow announced her intention to vote against Kavanaugh’s confirmation despite claiming, just a few days before, that she would review and consider his nomination. She took all of three days to think it over and decided to oppose him before a confirmation hearing was even scheduled, let alone occurred.



Stabenow’s press release echoes the absurd, false claims repeated by liberal extremists in Washington, making it clear she is standing shoulder to shoulder with Bernie Sanders, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democrat obstructionists, focusing more on resisting the president at all costs rather than representing the state she was elected to serve.



Of course, we shouldn’t be surprised. Stabenow has a record of putting her party’s interest above her constituents. While Michigan and our interests should be first on her mind, we seem to be an afterthought — not the greatest quality in a U.S. Senator.



It isn’t just the Supreme Court nominations that Stabenow is resisting. Stabenow has voted No on nearly all of President Trump’s cabinet nominations and voted No on repealing Obamacare, a failed experiment that has cost Michiganians millions. She voted against President Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee, Justice Neil Gorsuch, last year, consistently putting politics before the people she is supposed to represent.



Stabenow has also opposed all of the president’s attempts to roll back the regulatory state and unleash America’s economic potential. In addition to voting against the tax cuts that have created thousands of new jobs, increased wages and resulted in bonuses in Michigan, Stabenow voted against the repeal of the EPA’s stream protection rule and against the repeal of draconian Bureau of Land Management planning rules which stifle economic growth. She neglected to protect Michigan’s farmers from EPA overreach, siding instead with government bureaucrats who define our farmers’ ponds and drainage ditches as federal waters.



The senator has also worked to undermine Michiganians’ constitutional right to keep and bear arms. She voted in favor of subjecting gun manufacturers to frivolous lawsuits that would put them out of business.

Now, Stabenow is teaming up with the worst elements of her party to sink the career and slander the name of a highly qualified judge.



Democrats like Stabenow and Schumer are warning of a constitutional apocalypse should Judge Kavanaugh be confirmed. In reality, Kavanaugh’s confirmation would represent no such thing. Kavanaugh is a widely respected jurist who has served on the circuit court for over a decade. Many of his dissenting opinions have been upheld as law by the Supreme Court, proving he would be a stellar addition to the High Court. Any claims to the contrary are nothing but fear-mongering resistance, opposing anything and everything that our president does regardless of the issue.



If Stabenow’s true allegiance was to the people of Michigan, she would support Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Instead, she has joined hands with the extremist elements in her party to try to block President Trump’s choice in the name of partisan extremism and obstructionism.

Ronald Weiser is chairman of the Michigan Republican Party