Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley announced today that the Committee will be holding a confirmation hearing for Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh beginning on September 4. This announcement was made despite the fact that Judge Kavanaugh’s full record has not been released and without regard for the National Archives’ notice that it will need until at least October to produce the limited documents that Senator Grassley agreed to release. Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF), issued the following statement:
“Americans rely on the Supreme Court to safeguard not only our civil rights, but the integrity of our justice system. This attempt to ram through Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination without access to his full record is simply appalling. The Constitution requires the Senate to advise and consent on any nomination to the Supreme Court. The duty to advise requires meaningful review of a nominee’s record, as the Senate has consistently recognized in prior nominations. The meaningful review required by the Constitution cannot take place without the Senate having access to documents from Judge Kavanaugh’s service as a Staff Secretary to President Bush, an experience that he himself deemed ‘most useful to [him] as a judge.’
“In addition, this brazenly partisan rush to push this nominee through without adequate process comes as new revelations each day demonstrate that the Mueller investigation may result in constitutional questions that come before the Supreme Court, including recent assertions by the President’s lawyer that the President would challenge a subpoena in the Supreme Court. Comments by the chair of the House Intelligence Committee revealed that Senate Republicans have tied the timing of this confirmation process to an effort to protect the President from investigation and possible impeachment. The use of raw political power to ram through an unvetted nominee is a new low for those Senators who place party ahead of the integrity of our highest court.
“For the sake of transparency, the independence of the Court, and the generations to come whose lives will be shaped by this nominee, the Senate must press pause. LDF will continue our thorough review of Judge Kavanaugh’s record in public service, and we urge all responsible Senators—Republican and Democrat—to demand the same.”
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Founded in 1940, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the nation’s first civil and human rights law organization and has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund or LDF.
