The following is the statement of Committee for Justice president Curt Levey on the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court:
Washington, D.C — We congratulate both Judge Brett Kavanaugh, for his much-deserved nomination to the Supreme Court, and President Donald Trump, for a brilliant and courageous pick.
It is no secret that some advised President Trump to make a more cautious pick than Judge Kavanaugh. But the President is loved by his supporters precisely because he consistently chooses a good fight for a principled cause over a safe but more tepid course. President Trump showed that courage once again last night, selecting the potential nominee with the most stellar qualifications, intellect and reputation, rather than a nominee whose more cautious career path might make for a little easier confirmation process.
But make no mistake, Judge Kavanaugh will be confirmed because moderate Republican and Democratic senators will find it hard to oppose a nominee whose lengthy judicial record proves he is a principled constitutionalist who will faithfully follow the law as written, without regard to whether the results comport with conservative policy preferences.
Nonetheless, many Senate Democrats and their allies will accuse Kavanaugh of being a right-wing extremist. They've done exactly that to every GOP Supreme Court nominee over the last four decades – Anthony Kennedy included – and they've made it clear over the past two weeks that they would do it again to anyone Trump nominated for this vacancy.
Fortunately, the majority of Americans will see this mudslinging for the tired rhetoric it is. They understand that the Democrats' real objection to Judge Kavanaugh – and to President Trump's judicial nominees in general – is that they will not engage in the sort of judicial activism that progressives have relied on for more than half a century to implement their ideological agenda.
If progressives believe Judge Kavanaugh is a threat to their agenda – as their doomsday predictions suggest – it is not because they can point to any instances of outcome-oriented judging by Kavanaugh. Instead, it is only because he has made it clear that judges should not "make up new constitutional rights that are not in the text of the Constitution." Kavanaugh understands that the evolution of the law is a job that belongs, instead, to the American people and their elected representatives.
###