October 6, 2018
Contact:
Mollie Katz
202-527-9058
Press@rcrc.org
RCRC Statement on Senate Approval of Brett Kavanaugh to Supreme Court
RCRC is outraged at the Senate’s confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to a lifetime seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. He will now be positioned to shape American law and policy for a generation. Based on his record, we believe that he will put vital civil and human rights such as reproductive freedom, religious freedom and immigrant rights in jeopardy.
It is especially appalling that a majority of senators voted to confirm Kavanaugh in the face of credible allegations of sexual assault—allegations that were not thoroughly followed up despite a reopened FBI investigation. RCRC is deeply grateful to Dr. Blasey Ford, Debbie Ramirez, and Julie Swetnick for courageously coming forward as well as to the thousands of survivors who told their stories to their senators. We believe survivors and stand with them in the face of this disturbing vote.
We place an especially heavy responsibility for this confirmation on Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. Despite credible allegations of sexual assault made against Kavanaugh, his dishonesty about his past and his defiance and hostility before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Collins cast her vital swing vote in his favor. From the beginning of the process, she claimed that preserving Roe v. Wade was a key consideration for her on this important nomination, but she trusts the word of a judge with a troubling record on reproductive rights, nominated by a president who promised to choose justices who would overturn Roe. Based on this, there is every reason to believe that Kavanaugh will be the swing vote that severely restricts and weakens the constitutional right to choose abortion whether he completely overturns Roe or not. This was a key reason for RCRC’s opposition to Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
RCRC emerged more than 40 years ago out of a national movement, the Clergy Consultation Service, whose thousands of members — ministers, rabbis, priests and nuns — acted on faith to defy abortion bans and give women safe ways to control their own bodies and lives. RCRC will stand firm in carrying on that commitment through advocacy, education, prayer and joining with like-minded groups to work for a nation that treats women and other marginalized communities with the respect and compassion needed for our country to assure true equality.