Yeomans: Mandate for Transparency for Kavanaugh

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 20, 2018 – In the latest edition of Yeomans Work, AFJ Goldfarb Fellow for Justice Bill Yeomans says the review process that is under way following the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh demands the utmost transparency — for a host of reasons. One of the most important is the fact that cases stemming from the Mueller Russia probe may ultimately land before the Supreme Court.  As Yeomans writes, “Trump’s selection of his own judge in the middle of a massive and substantial investigation into his own conduct poses an obvious conflict.”

Moreover, there are enormous stakes for the country and the future of a host of issues: health care, the environment, voting rights, consumer rights and workers’ rights — and of course, reproductive freedom. On two fronts in particular, President Trump has made it clear that he has a litmus test for Supreme Court nominees: they must be hostile to the Affordable Care Act and they must be willing to gut and overturn Roe v. Wade.

Writes Yeomans: “Kavanaugh, therefore, comes to the confirmation process carrying the full burden of Trump’s campaign rhetoric.  All senators must take Trump at his word that he would select only justices who would overrule Roe v. Wade.  Unless Kavanaugh establishes beyond doubt that he supports the survival of Roe, no senator who supports the right of women to control their reproductive choices can support Kavanaugh. Vague assurances about the value of adhering to precedent are meaningless in this context. Kavanaugh comes to the Senate stamped with the blessing of Trump and the conservative legal establishment (who did Trump’s bidding) as an opponent of Roe. The burden rests with him to prove otherwise in clear and unequivocal terms.”

Yeomans Work focuses on the challenges to the justice system in the era of Trump. Bill Yeomans is available for media interviews. Contact Laurie Kinney, Communications Director, at laurie@afj.org or 202-464-7367.