Last week, I submitted a letter to Sen. Susan Collins asking her to consider Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s casual relationship with the truth when she votes on his nomination to the United States Supreme Court.
Of course, Sen. Collins and I belong to different political parties, but I think we should all be able to agree that lying about whether or not he received stolen materials ought to disqualify someone from serving on the highest court in the country.
Kavanaugh lied under oath in 2004, 2006 and again in 2018 regarding his receipt of stolen documents. From emails released this week, we now know that he received this information from Manuel Miranda, who used his staff position in the Senate to steal confidential documents from Democratic Senators on the Judiciary Committee.
These emails prove that Kavanaugh lied under oath on three separate occasions. In 2004, during his confirmation to the D.C. Circuit, he testified not just that he did not know the documents were stolen but that he never received any documents that appeared to have been written by Democratic staff. In 2006, he again denied having ever seen the documents in question.
Now that these emails have surfaced, Kavanaugh’s story has changed.
He clearly received the documents, so now he asserts that he did not know they were stolen. Even if he was able to overlook the emails that referenced spying and a “mole” in the Senate, this assertion does not ring true. Manuel Miranda was caught stealing documents in 2003 and, by the time Kavanaugh was nominated to the D.C. Circuit, he had to have known where Mr. Miranda’s information had come from.
Supreme Court appointments are for life, and the job of a justice is to place the Constitution and respect for the rule of law above all else. How can we trust Kavanaugh to do that if he’s already been caught lying to the Senate in a public hearing?
But it gets worse. Kavanaugh’s record on the issues that most affect our lives is even worse than his record on truth telling. In ruling after ruling, he has sided with large and powerful corporations and special interests over everyday Americans like us.
He has dropped hints that he believes health insurance companies should be able to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions – a problem we all thought we had done away with. He has been documented saying he believes so much in executive power that it raises questions as to whether he thinks presidents are above the law.
His shoddy record of rulings on minority rights and other civil rights shows he does not understand history and has little regard for America’s native tribes. And perhaps worst of all, he said he doesn’t believe Roe vs. Wade is “settled law” making his nomination the greatest threat to a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions in decades.
To sum up, Kavanaugh’s judicial philosophy is more about sticking it to the little guy than delivering justice to the American people. And his willingness to lie to advance that agenda shows just how unqualified he is to serve on the highest court in the land.
Senator Collins has all the evidence she needs to cast a “no” vote, and, for the good of her constituents and the American people, that’s exactly what she should do.