Senate Completes Sham Nomination Process, Elevates Judge Kavanaugh to Supreme Court

Abigail Dillen, President of Earthjustice, released the following statement in reaction to the Senate’s vote to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh this afternoon:

“We at Earthjustice are ashamed. The process to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court was an affront to the bedrock principles of fairness and justice under the law we hold dear.

“The experiences of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, Deborah Ramirez, Julie Swetnick, and millions of survivors of sexual assault nationwide were not only ignored but ridiculed by the toxic men in the White House and among the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“They treated Dr. Blasey Ford like a criminal, selecting a Republican prosecutor to question her instead of asking their own questions, then dropping their partisan prosecutor when they rushed to Judge Kavanaugh’s defense. This type of victim shaming is exactly why survivors so rarely report assaults.

“They assailed her credibility and laughed at her expense on live national television. In the end, they patted themselves on the back after a rushed FBI investigation of limited scope that lasted just a few days, and despite some hollow words about “concern” for victims of sexual assault, voted to confirm an alleged assailant anyway.

“The shame heaped on the all-male majority of the Senate Judiciary Committee must not end with their treatment of survivors, either. They trampled on the very notion of transparency, denying access to thousands of pages of Judge Kavanaugh’s records from his time in the Bush White House. They handpicked the same attorney representing Steve Bannon in the Mueller investigation to tell the public what we could see about Judge Kavanaugh’s history.

“The facts are clear: this nomination process is one of the worst shams ever perpetrated on the public.

“Today is the culmination of a multi-decade, well-financed effort organized by right-wing partisan political groups to shut the public out of the courts. The Federalist Society, the Heritage Foundation, and their billionaire backers are dead-set on rigging the game for the greedy and powerful. They didn’t build this machine of injustice overnight, and they will not be defeated overnight. Those who were outraged by this process and inspired to take action should settle in for a long fight.

“But justice will not be denied. No amount of dark money will silence survivors’ voices. No amount of corporate lobbying will stop Earthjustice from standing with the communities on the front lines of environmental degradation. No sham hearings or rushed confirmations will stop our attorneys from fighting for healthier communities, healthy lands and oceans, and a safer planet for all.

“Today is not the end.”