Sen. Susan Collins is very concerned about the Trump administration's decision to eliminate protections for transgender patients, calling it "simply wrong." She's also applauding the Supreme Court decision on Monday barring employers from discriminating against LGBTQ workers, and calling for Congress to pass the Equality Act to extend those protections to LGBTQ people in all public accommodations. So she must be fretting, furrowing her brow, and wringing her hands over what her boy Justice Brett Kavanaugh did in this case.
It wasn't enough for him to just be one of the three justices in dissent on the case. He also had to write his own dissent. "Both the rule of law and democratic accountability badly suffer when a court adopts a hidden or obscure interpretation of the law, and not its ordinary meaning," he wrote, saying the majority was making "a mistake of history and sociology." But he did congratulate LGBTQ people for having "advanced powerful policy arguments" and saying they "can take pride in today's results," even though he still thinks their livelihoods should be in jeopardy because of who they love. All of which must come as a big shock for Collins, seeing as how Kavanaugh promised her he wouldn't discriminate against them on the court.
Tired of this schtick from her? Let's make sure her time is up. Please give $1 to help Democrats in each of these crucial Senate races, but especially the one in Maine!
That's not what Collins said Kavanaugh told her back when she was justifying her vote to confirm him. Back then she said that Kavanaugh agreed with Justice Kennedy's opinion on Masterpiece Cakeshop: "The days of treating gay and lesbian Americans or gay and lesbian couples as second-class citizens who are inferior in dignity and worth are over in the Supreme Court." Unless you're Brett Kavanaugh, apparently. They can still be second-class citizens in the workplace as far as he's concerned.
Not that Collins wasn't more or less prepared for him to do this. When the Supreme Court was hearing the oral arguments in the case, Collins made it clear that she didn't ask Kavanaugh about any case beyond Obergefell, the case that decided marriage equality. "The issue that I raised with Justice Kavanaugh was on what is known as the [Obergefell v. Hodges] decision which legalized same-sex marriage and whether he considered that to be settled," she told reporters. "And he said that he did, because the Supreme Court has obviously ruled on that issue." She also assured reporters that Kavanaugh respects and feels bound by "settled law" and judicial precedent.
Uh huh. He also feels like LGBTQ people shouldn't have employment protections, and if he's going to think that, it's hard to imagine he'd agree that they should be able to get health care and housing without discrimination. Something that apparently Collins is very, very concerned about.
Too little, too late, senator. That vote for Kavanaugh sealed the deal when it comes to civil rights for all Americans (and abortion rights, too, when it comes down to it).