ACLU vs. Kavanaugh

Last Thursday, the country stood in stand still mesmerized by the Kavanaugh hearings. After the hearings the country went wild over Kavanaugh’s testimony, the Republicans forcefulness over desperately trying to confirm the judge and the decision for a limited scope FBI investigation. Today, the American Civil Liberties Union denounced Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court and is launching a seven-figure ad campaign across four states urging indecisive senators to vote against his confirmation. The ACLU has worked across the country in communities and courts to protect the constitutional rights of the people. Today they are using their voice to stop Kavanaugh from being voted into a lifetime seat to the highest court in the U.S.. This brings up the question of can they do this? The answer is simple; yes, they can, and they should.

The First Amendment protects the right to freedom of speech and in this case, the ACLU’s right to create a public ad campaign condemning Kavanaugh. This is only the fourth time that the ACLU has opposed a nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court and does not take stances on judicial nominations. Meaning that this specific instance must be dire enough for them to intervene. The specific ads will air in West Virginia, Alaska, Nebraska and Colorado; states with senators undecided of how to vote.

This tactic is a genius idea to pressure senators and to even change the minds of voters, specifically women. Even more so with the midterm elections coming up in November. The ads themselves are harsh and direct. In the first five seconds pictures of Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose and Harvey Weinstein are all displayed. Along with videos of President Bill Clinton denying having an affair with Monica Lewinsky, Bill Crosby denying his accusations and Kavanaugh doing the same thing on Capitol Hill from just last week. Taking from how Kavanaugh has handled the allegations and his testimony, he will not be happy about being compared to these men. However, do we even care what he thinks? If the ACLU, who never intervenes in judicial nominations, is spending a million dollars to powerfully and very publicly oppose this candidate; isn’t it time for the Trump administrative to cut their losses and move on from him? By creating and playing these advertisements, the ACLU is pressuring senators out in the open and questioning their alliances whether to their constituents or their party. In our country being able to have this power is because of the First Amendment. People can question whether an alleged sexual predator and potential alcoholic should be allowed on the Supreme Court. Giving him the final say on so many potential lives. With that being said, thank you ACLU for speaking on a national level what so many of us are feeling on a daily basis.