U.S. Senators from Massachusetts and Connecticut have spoken out against President Trump’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Among their concerns were Kavanaugh’s possible opposition to the Affordable Care Act.
Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy argued that Kavanaugh would be instrumental in eliminating protections in the ACA for those with pre-existing conditions.
“The Supreme Court can take away your health care if you have any of these diseases,” Murphy said on the Senate floor this week. “And the likelihood that they will take away your health care if you have any of these pre-existing conditions is radically increased if Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4_pUWvooAQ
The senators also cited risk to environmental protections, same-sex marriage and gun control legislation.
“If you care about common sense gun violence protection, Judge Kavanaugh is your worst nightmare,” said Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal. “If you want background checks or a ban on assault weapons or any of the other common sense measures that we have in Connecticut, or California or New York, Judge Kavanaugh will strike them down.”
Judge Kavanaugh’s record&writings signal an extreme hostility to the precious rights&liberties that make our nation great. He's passed the Trump litmus test – screened&vetted by extreme right-wing groups that have made this president their puppet.
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) July 10, 2018
Massachusetts Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey have two big concerns. First, there’s Kavanaugh’s suggestion in 2009 that a sitting president not be subjected to criminal investigations.
“[H]e has written an article saying, in effect, that presidents like Trump should be above the law,” Warren told WBUR’s Radio Boston.
Brett Kavanaugh's record as a judge and lawyer is clear: hostile to health care for millions, opposed to the CFPB & corporate accountability, thinks Presidents like Trump are above the law – and conservatives are confident that he would overturn Roe v. Wade. I'll be voting no.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) July 10, 2018
“It should come as no surprise that a president under federal investigation would nominate a judge who has written about the inadvisability of indicting a sitting U.S. president and the need to delay civil legal proceedings against one,” Markey said.
Brett #Kavanaugh wrote: “The indictment and trial of a sitting President, moreover, would cripple the federal government, rendering it unable to function with credibility."
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) July 10, 2018
The Trump administration already lacks credibility and functionality due to its corruption & incompetence.
Then there’s the future of Roe v. Wade. Warren said that with five conservative justices, the Supreme Court could move to allow states to ban abortion services.
“[Kavanaugh’s] history makes me more alarmed that this is a court that will be willing, if it gets five votes, to throw out Roe v. Wade,” Warren said.
Blumenthal is a member of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, which will hold Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing. If the committee approves the nomination, it goes next to the U.S. Senate for a vote.
According to NPR, Republican aides said this week that the entire process could take two months. The official date for the hearing has not yet been set.
This report includes information from WBUR and NPR.
