Washington, D.C. — After the Senate narrowly voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, Neera Tanden, CEO of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, issued the following statement:
After tainting the presidency and the Congress, President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans have now infected the Supreme Court with a justice who will forever be questioned for his dishonesty, raw partisanship, and past behavior. We now know that the White House counsel convinced Trump to quash a real investigation of Brett Kavanaugh’s alleged sexual assaults because the truth would sink his nomination—even as Trump told America there were no restrictions. We know the Senate voted for a man who, if this were a job interview, would have been rejected a long time ago. But Senate Republicans chose to give him the promotion of a lifetime and send a terrible message to sexual assault survivors. In his hearing, Kavanaugh repeatedly lied about matters big and small and revealed himself as an obviously unfit, dishonest, pure partisan. He will taint the Supreme Court for the entirety of his presence there.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) stepped forward as the chief advocate for Judge Kavanaugh, offering a pathetically bad faith argument as cover for President Trump’s vicious attacks on survivors of sexual assault. She pretended that Kavanaugh would not be a partisan operative to dismantle health care protections over time, ignoring his hyperpartisan, conspiratorial testimony that prompted the American Bar Association (ABA) to reopen his evaluation. Her description of Kavanaugh’s position on birth control was flat out deception, cherry-picking a quote out of a decision that aggressively curtailed women’s access to contraception.
Sen. Collins also revealed herself as a fake defender of Roe v. Wade, parroting ridiculous and debunked talking points. Anti-choice advocacy groups will be celebrating her vote to punish women and limit reproductive freedom as one of the greatest victories of the anti-choice movement. Kavanaugh has written sneering anti-choice talking points such as “abortion on demand” into one dissent, given an entire speech focused on praising the dissent against Roe, and written a now-leaked email challenging the concept of settled law, especially for Roe v. Wade.
Americans will never believe that Kavanaugh’s rulings are not driven by partisan agendas and personal animus because of Kavanaugh’s own behavior in this process. Trump and his Republican apologists openly mocked Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and waged a full-blown campaign to stoke hatred, distrust, and resentment against the millions of survivors of sexual assault. Americans will remember this in November and for many years to come.