SHARON SLATER | PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

FWI Supports Trump’s Exceptional Nominee for Supreme Court Justice

July 10, 2018

SHARON SLATER,
FWI PRESIDENT

Dear Friend of the Family,

Family Watch strongly supports President Donald Trump’s nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) created by the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Judge Kavanaugh is widely regarded as one of the brightest and most capable federal judges in the country.

Judge Brett Kavanaugh

Before holding an important position in the George W. Bush White House, he was in private practice in Washington D.C. During the 12 years he served on the U.S. appellate court, Judge Kavanaugh authored more than 300 decisions on a range of issues.

In 11 instances when the Supreme Court reviewed decisions written by Kavanaugh on appeal, SCOTUS accepted the logic in Kavanaugh’s decisions in its own rulings. This in itself is a rare tribute to his legal scholarship. Most importantly, Judge Kavanaugh has proven himself as someone who is dedicated to adhering to the actual language of the U.S. Constitution in deciding cases.

Even before President Trump made his selection, the mere announcement of Justice Kennedy’s retirement two weeks ago immediately set off a firestorm. Numerous Democratic congressional leaders immediately pledged to oppose any Trump nominee even before they knew who it would be. Among other things they claimed that anyone Trump nominated would result in abortion being criminalized nationwide, same-sex marriage being reversed, and other civil rights protections being rolled back.

We predict this confirmation will be one of the biggest political fights in the United States in years.

With the Senate so closely divided between the two parties, Kavanaugh is likely to be confirmed by a small margin of votes at best. Several potential swing Senators are already under intense pressure from both sides.

What the fight really boils down to is how the opposing sides view the U.S. Constitution, which then dictates the kind of judges they support.

Some judges view the Constitution as a “living document” that must be reinterpreted (or even “amended” by activist judges) to adapt to changing circumstances and standards in the culture. This philosophy is used by activist judges to impose their personal social views on the country, in effect, “legislating from the bench.” For example, this is how the majority of the court was able to “discover” constitutional “rights” to abortion and homosexual marriage—issues on which the U.S. Constitution is silent.

This kind of judicial activism has damaged public support for the judicial branch. One recent poll found that popular support for the Supreme Court has fallen from about 80 percent twenty years ago to 43 percent today.

The other view of the U.S. Constitution—the one in keeping with the original intent of America’s founders—is that the Court should limit itself to interpreting the Constitution as it was written within the bounds of a strict interpretation of its original language. Judges that adhere to this philosophy are called “constitutionalists” or “strict constructionists.” This is the type of judge that President Trump pledged to appoint to judicial vacancies on the high court and throughout the federal judiciary.

Justice Neal Gorsuch, Trump’s first Supreme Court appointee, is a constitutionalist, and Judge Kavanaugh is as well.

Constitutionalists hold that when an issue arises that is not addressed in the Constitution, the proper way to deal with it under the U.S. system of separation of powers is to defer to the Congress to deal with it legislatively.

In the past, when abortion rights and sexual rights activists could not get their radical social policies adopted democratically, they have relied on activist judges to impose them. Therefore, if a constitutionalist judge like Kavanaugh is confirmed, the hopes of the radical left to have the Court continue to impose an activist liberal agenda on America through judicial fiat will be dashed.

What is driving the extremely aggressive and unjustified opposition to Judge Kavanaugh is the realization that he will not be a judicial activist who will cooperate in imposing a liberal agenda on the American people.

It is critical to the future of the United States that Judge Kavanaugh is confirmed by the Senate.

We will be following this process very carefully and will contact our members in key U.S. states to suggest what they can do to help.

The personal attacks and misinformation on Judge Kavanaugh are already widely circulating, and it will only get worse in the weeks ahead.

Please help by forwarding this alert on to all your contacts.