Thanks to Moscow Mitch McConnell’s failure to do the right thing and place his party ahead of the American people and the intention of the Constitution, Judge Merrick Garland, possibly the most qualified nominee for the SCOTUS in history, was denied a nomination hearing in 2016. This offered the most unqualified illegitimate president in history an opportunity to nominate two Supreme Court Justices.
Both were biased towards anti-American, Republican goals. However, Neil Gorsuch had experience in the 10th District Court of Appeals and was not involved in any scandal. He was nominated and approved by the Republican Senate in 2017.
Brett Kavanaugh was nominated for the Supreme Court in 2018 after Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement. Kavanaugh was considered to be a Trump puppet, and during his confirmation hearings appeared to be “Trump’s lost brother.”
As his confirmation hearings began, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford became a household name. She sent a letter to Senator Diane Feinstein. She claimed that in 1980 Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her at a party. After her testimony, I, and many others believed that Kavanaugh was a drunken sexual predator and unworthy of becoming a Supreme Court Justice.
The FBI was assigned to investigate Dr. Ford’s allegations. A hasty and questionable investigation failed to find sufficient reason to end Kavanaugh’s nomination. He now sits on the SCOTUS.
The situation was all too similar to the hearings of Associate Justice Clarence Thomas in 1991. A woman by the name of Anita Hill accused Thomas of sexual harassment. The rest is eerily similar to actions by Republicans in 2018. Old, white, Republican senators attacked Ms. Hill and defended Thomas. Both hearings remain a blight on the integrity and the respectability of the United States Senate.
Here’s the real difference between Kavanaugh and Gorsuch. On Monday Justice Gorsuch joined Chief Justice, John Roberts, also a Republican, in protecting the rights of the LGBTQ community. They decided that the same civil rights afforded minorities in 1964 applied to the LGBTQ community in the workplace. Kavanaugh voted against the issue.
“It is a watershed moment from an unlikely author that means gay, lesbian and transgender workers are protected by federal civil rights law. It is a stunning defeat for judicial conservatives who worked to ensure Gorsuch’s nomination and Republicans, including Donald Trump, who stymied President Barack Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, liberal Merrick Garland in 2016.”
Personally, I am thrilled. In the 21st century it is rare for a conservative to do the right thing for their country. Only the late John McCain, Mitt Romney, and now Neil Gorsuch, and John Roberts have displayed patriotism and a willingness to do what is right for our nation’s future.
Today, as our nation’s people are in the streets demanding that our government listen to them and perform the jobs for which they were elected, I have hope that in November real Americans will regain control of the country I love. Justice Gorsuch elevated that hope.
Op-ed by James Turnage
Photo courtesy of LBJ Library
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