America’s Highest Court Should Protect People’s Right to Justice
July 9, 2018
America’s Highest Court Should Protect People’s Right to Justice
Statement of Robert Weissman, President, Public Citizen
Note: President Donald Trump announced this evening that he has nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement from the court effective July 31:
America’s highest court – which should be a symbol of justice for all – must not:
• Take away a woman’s right to control her body;
• Backtrack on marriage equality and the rights of LGBTQIA people;
• Enable racist policy;
• Empower corporations to cheat and injure consumers;
• Twist the First Amendment into a tool to protect corporations from regulatory controls;
• Eviscerate our democracy by undermining voting rights or further empowering the superrich to dominate our elections; or
• Reflexively side with Donald Trump in the legal issues regarding potential obstruction of justice or related matters that may very well land at the Supreme Court.
As senators undertake their constitutional duty to advise and consider whether to consent to the president’s nominee, they must focus on the need for a Supreme Court that offsets power imbalances in society, rather than exacerbates them. Will Judge Kavanaugh seek to preserve the rights of individuals, or place corporate interests above them? Will he vote to firm up the foundations of our democracy or allow them to be further eroded?
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