Statement from Andy Levin on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh

I hope every person of conscience is ready to oppose Trump’s choice for the Supreme Court. The confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh would fundamentally alter the court, allowing ultra-conservatives to take our country backwards on critically important issues like voting rights, the right of workers to organize, the freedom of women to control their own bodies, marriage equality, environmental protections, and more.

I am particularly disturbed by Judge Kavanaugh’s decision last October to deny a teenage immigrant girl in U.S. custody access to timely abortion services. When the whole circuit court overturned his decision to deny the young woman access to health care she sought, Judge Kavanaugh wrote that the majority was creating a new ‘constitutional principle’ that ‘unlawful immigrant minors in U.S. government detention’ have a right ‘to obtain immediate abortion on demand.’ This kind of inflamed, ideological rhetoric, in the face of a young girl facing a practical health care decision that should be her own to make, speaks volumes about how Kavanaugh would act on the highest court in the land.

Equality, civil rights, and justice are at the core of our nation’s democratic values, and these values must be defended. When I get to Congress, I will fight tooth and nail against any and all efforts to strip away our freedoms and trample on our rights.