Ignoring a national outcry from civil rights advocates and sexual assault survivors, the Senate today voted to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court.
Justice Kavanaugh poses a massive threat to the rights of 2 million transgender people in this country, as proven by his lengthy record as a federal judge denying the rights of workers and limiting health care access and reproductive rights. As a Supreme Court justice, it is likely Justice Kavanaugh will secure a conservative majority to deny transgender people the right to workplace protections and to abolish the Affordable Care Act—forcing transgender people to live as ‘pre-existing conditions’ undeserving of health care.
Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation also comes after multiple women made credible allegations of sexual assault and attempted rape, including Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Justice Kavanaugh chose to respond to the allegations with entitlement and partisan outrage, criticizing the credible allegations of Dr. Blasey Ford as a conspiracy against him by the Democratic Party and the Clinton family.
Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, condemned the confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh:
The Senate’s confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh is a moral failure, the consequences of which will last generations. Justice Kavanaugh is a direct threat to the well-being of 2 million transgender people, and his confirmation is an insult to the millions of people who have survived sexual assault. Every time the Supreme Court strips more rights away, survivors will receive a painful reminder that decisions about their lives are being made by people who have been credibly accused of sexual assault. Justice Kavanaugh has proven himself a partisan hack, filled with contempt and unable to provide the objectivity required of any judge. As the legal rights of transgender Americans hang in the balance, we have no faith Justice Kavanaugh will set aside his blatant political bias and give us the fairness we deserve.
