It’s Just Wrong And Immoral To Appoint A SCOTUS Nominee Who Will Deny Justice To The Sick And Poor
“Doom to you who legislate evil, who make laws that make victims — Laws that make misery for the poor, that rob my destitute people of dignity, Exploiting defenseless widows, taking advantage of homeless children.” (Isaiah 10: 1–4).
Earlier this week I joined my Catholic, Evangelical, Jewish, Black, White, and Latino brothers and sisters and moral leaders at the U.S. Capitol to say no to Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. The price is too high for us to be silent and surrender to a lifetime appointment of this nominee, who will regress the state of moral jurisprudence in America for the next forty years.
The nomination of Kavanaugh, by a president who lost the popular vote by over 3 million votes, is setting the Supreme Court up to allow evil policies in this nation that will threaten not only women’s rights, but worker’s rights, voting rights, as well as the lives of millions of sick and poor people living in this country.
Those who claim so much that they support the way of Jesus need to be reminded of what Jesus said about the weightier matters of the law: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.” (Matthew 23:23). Many of Kavanaugh’s rulings and the positions of the bodies that put his name forward have more often than not been against the kind of justice and mercy Jesus called for.
In 2016, Kavanaugh wrote an opinion stating that employers can require workers to waive their right to strike, which makes them vulnerable to unfair wages, unsafe conditions, and wrongful terminations, amongst other issues. He has frequently attacked environmental protection laws, rejecting the Environmental Protection Agency’s attempt to curb air pollution and restricting the EPA’s powers. He believes that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is unconstitutional, but removing it would leave millions of Americans at the mercy of predatory lending practices, ultimately resulting in millions of poor people staying in poverty.
He has said that the president should be able to decide whether or not he should be investigated and that a sitting president should not be allowed to be indicted, no matter the evidence against him. Any judicial nominee that is willing to potentially overlook evidence in order to protect someone’s position and power, is a threat to our democracy.
We cannot look at this nominee separate and apart from the nominator. Instead of receiving a list of nominees from traditional civil rights organizations, President Trump received a list of nominees from the extremist Federalist Society, which promotes judicial regressivism. Civil rights organizations have a deep appreciation for how the Constitution has been expanded to protect the rights of the most marginalized, whereas the Federalist Society is made up of extremists who are trying to impose a racist and sexist legal system that excludes women, the poor, and people of color.
We need a fusion critique of Mr. Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court nominee. If Mr. Kavanaugh is confirmed by a simple majority vote then he will be given a lifetime appointment, rounding out the most regressive Supreme Court since Jim Crow. We must know where he stands on the 14th amendment, equal protections, Brown v. Board of Education, voting rights, voter suppression, and gerrymandering. All of these protections were markers in history that showed that our federal government would defend equal protection under the law.
We have seen throughout history that the Supreme Court can make decisions that are unconstitutional. We saw this with Dred Scott v. Sandford and with Plessy v. Ferguson. The bible says that we should, “Hate evil and love what is good; turn your courts into true halls of justice. Perhaps even yet the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will have mercy on the remnant of his people.” (Amos 5:15). These laws were immoral and evil and allowed people’s constitutional rights to be taken from them.
The Supreme Court also has the power to hurt our most vulnerable communities by refusing to hear their voices and cases. It is the job of the Supreme Court to protect all people, not strip any person of their rights because of their race, gender, or economic status. Look at all of the voter suppression we’re currently facing because of the current Supreme Court. Look at the governors and state legislators that are allowed to reject implementing the Affordable Care Act. And look at the recent decisions by the Supreme Court to strip workers of their rights (Janus v. AFSCME ).
Moral activists with The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival are working for expanded constitutional protections for all people. It is our hope that politicians will give this nomination a full evaluation and be willing to ask the serious moral questions of this nominee that Americans deserve answers to. We came to challenge and push back against the moral agenda of these so-called religious evangelicals who keep attempting to say choosing Mr. Kavanaugh is the right moral decision; yet they ignore all of the dishonest positions and legal decisions that he and the current Supreme Court have made. We must stand together for the dignity of all Americans, for the rights of the poor, and for the protection of the most vulnerable by saying no to Kavanaugh!
Contact your Senator by calling 202–224–3121, and tell them to say no Kavanaugh!
