President Trump had barely announced his attention to nominate Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court vacancy left by retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy before the Democratic spin machine went to work. From protesters in front of the Supreme Court to Senators announcing their readiness to vote against Kavanaugh, the Democratic movement to deny Kavanaugh’s nomination is in full motion. And it appears that the Democrats will try to use typical scare-mongering tactics to try to sink Kavanaugh, claiming that his nomination will result in Roe v. Wade being overturned.
In reality, the overturning of Roe v. Wade would take years, if not decades. It would require first that a state government pass a law banning abortion. Then someone seeking an abortion would have to be denied an abortion, file suit, and that case would have to make its way through the court system, be accepted by the Supreme Court, receive a hearing, and then be judged by the Court. That timeline is highly unlikely anytime soon, so regardless of your opinion on whether Roe should be overturned or not, Kavanaugh’s nomination won’t be likely to have an immediate effect. Even if he were to make it to the Court, by the time such a case reached the Supreme Court we could very well have a Democratic President who nominates staunch liberals to fill future vacancies.
We also need to remember how Justice Kennedy was nominated in the first place. He wasn’t the first choice for President Reagan. Reagan first nominated Robert Bork, who was rejected by the Senate for being too conservative. Reagan’s second nominee, Douglas Ginsburg, removed his name from nomination after he admitted to having used marijuana. So Kennedy was a third-stringer, and how disastrous a third-stringer. While touted by the mainstream media as a swing vote, he was really a consistent vote against personal liberties and in favor of the growth of state power.
Kavanaugh was a law clerk for Kennedy, and there is widespread speculation that Trump and Kennedy came to an agreement to allow Kennedy to step down with the promise that his former clerk would get the nomination. But what happens if the Democrats are so opposed to Kavanaugh that they successfully stymie his nomination? While Democrats think he’s too conservative on abortion, some conservatives don’t think he goes far enough. And while he’s reputed to be solid on the Second Amendment, his stance seems to be based on the state of current law and jurisprudence rather than any solidly-held moral or Constitutional principles. Furthermore, he definitely leaves something to be desired when it comes to Fourth Amendment protections.
The irony therefore is that the Democrats may use all their powder to prevent a Kavanaugh nomination and Trump might turn around and nominate another conservative, perhaps someone even more conservative, such as Amy Coney Barrett. That would be poetic justice, so stay tuned to see how this whole affair plays out. With the nomination coming in July, and midterm elections coming up in November, there could be some very interesting maneuvering going on in the next few months surrounding Kavanaugh’s nomination.