Day 2 - Kavanaugh Shines on Legal Philosophy and Role of a Judge

The second day of Judge Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing is ongoing and expected to end after 10:00 PM.  During this marathon day (fortunately for his endurance, Judge Kavanaugh has run actual marathons), Judge Kavanaugh has remained poised and engaged in substantive discussions of cases and legal theories with senators, often recalling specific citations (down to sections of opinions) without referencing his notes.  He has shown why he is extremely well-qualified to serve on the Supreme Court, as the ABA itself acknowledged.  While protestors continued to interrupt throughout the day, Democratic senators have not engaged in the indecorous grandstanding of yesterday.

You can review the hearing's event on RNLA's Twitter feed, and we will continue live-tweeting the hearing until it concludes.

Also of note, current and former RNLA women leaders submitted a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee leaders expressing support for Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation:

As educated, professional women, we are often told that we should endorse the progressive policy agenda and support judges who will enact progressive policy changes from the bench and by not doing so, we are betraying our sex.  

Nothing could be further from the truth. The policies and laws that best protect the rights of women are the policies and laws that protect the rights of all people. Therefore, the type of judge who best protects the rights of women is the type of judge who protects the rights of all people who come before his or her court by interpreting statutes and regulations as written, according to the text of the Constitution, with respect for the proper role of the courts in our system of separation of powers.  

Judge Kavanaugh is precisely this type of judge. Throughout his twelve years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, he has consistently evaluated the text of the relevant legal authorities and applied them to the facts in the case. He has done so even when the outcome of the case was one that he personally would not have chosen. It is clear in Judge Kavanaugh’s extensive record that he understands his role of as that of judge, not policymaker.  

In addition to his impressive record, Judge Kavanaugh is the son of a woman lawyer and has been a mentor to women lawyers, hiring women as 25 of his 48 law clerks. Twenty-one of his women clerks went on to clerk at the Supreme Court. As his women clerks noted in a letter to you, they had “uniformly positive experiences with the Judge as a boss on issues of gender and equality in the workplace.” This kind of mentorship is vital to helping young women attorneys succeed in our chosen profession. 

Judge Kavanaugh has demonstrated his durable commitment to the rule of law and sought to interpret the Constitution and the law impartially, and he should receive the support of Americans of all political and ideological beliefs.  

Instead, he has been attacked for political gain, and even more bizarrely, attacked for being an enemy of women. This not only degrades the civil discourse in our country and undermines the role of the judiciary in our constitutional system but also wrongly uses women as partisan pawns. These attacks on Judge Kavanaugh by liberals and Democrats have belittled the role and individual beliefs and achievements of women, while ignoring the very real contribution that Judge Kavanaugh has made in advancing the careers of women attorneys.

The hearings will continue all week with further rounds of questioning from senators tomorrow and expert testimony on Friday.  RNLA will live-tweet the proceedings throughout.