I do not like using the word “unqualified” to describe an appointee to a U.S. Supreme Court seat or other federal judgeship, in large part due to the fact that I am not an attorney, and I don’t feel that the word “unqualified” would correctly describe Brett Kavanaugh, who is Donald Trump’s appointee to the vacant Associate Justice seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. However, one word that I am willing to use to describe Kavanaugh is “dangerous”. When I describe Kavanaugh as “dangerous”, I’m referring to the fact that Kavanaugh’s far-right judicial philosophy would very negatively affect the American people.
Just a few years ago, a conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court made a very bold and progressive decision that I will remember for the rest of my life. In a 5-4 decision, then-Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, a conservative-leaning justice, sided with four liberal-leaning justices to make marriage equality, or the concept that same-sex couples should enjoy the same right to marry as opposite-sex couples, law of the land nationwide in America in the Obergefell v. Hodges decision. In his confirmation hearings before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Brett Kavanaugh has signaled that he is open to the idea of overturning the Obergefell decision, which would allow states to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples:
If Kavanaugh were to be confirmed to the Supreme Court, he would fill the seat on our nation’s highest bench that was most recently occupied by Anthony Kennedy, meaning that the Supreme Court would be in position to overturn the Obergefell precedent, allow states to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and set a new, dangerous precedent that would lead to many different forms of discrimination against Americans becoming legally permissible. I thank Senator Kamala Harris of California for her tough but fair questioning of Kavanaugh.
Again, I’m not an attorney, but I believe that Obergefell, like the Loving v. Virginia case that required states to grant marriage licenses to interracial couples, were correctly decided cases based on reasonable interpretations of the U.S. Constitution. I also believe that love is love, regardless of the race and gender of each person of a couple that is in a loving relationship.
I strongly support all respectful efforts by the American people to convince U.S. Senators to oppose the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.