The confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh was a victory, but Republicans need to keep the House and Senate to cement pro-life gains.
Last week, in the presence of his family, his eight new colleagues, and President Trump, Brett Kavanaugh was publicly sworn in as the 114th Supreme Court justice in United States history. Like his predecessors, he pledged to uphold the Constitution and be a fair, impartial interpreter of the law for all Americans.
At this historic moment, justice was done. An extraordinarily qualified individual, with a sterling reputation and decades of service in both the executive and judicial branches, took office — a triumph for the voters who elected President Trump, trusting him to make these nominations wisely.
It was a hard-earned, bittersweet victory after the scorched-earth campaign that Senate Democrats waged against Kavanaugh, exploiting human pain and the serious issue of sexual assault for a partisan agenda. They were openly abetted by many allies in the media, who abandoned their role as fact-finders and succumbed to ideological pressure.
In the end, though, they could not keep a good man down. Kavanaugh’s impeccable record as a fair, impartial judge shone through. President Trump never abandoned his nominee, and leaders in the Senate such as Mitch McConnell, Chuck Grassley, Lindsey Graham, and others showed America that Goliath can be defeated.
Unfortunately, there is no time to relax. In less than three weeks, this success could be either cemented or swept away.
Before Justice Kavanaugh was even sworn in, Representative Jerrold Nadler (D., N.Y.) — an abortion-rights extremist who stands to become chair of the House Judiciary Committee should Democrats regain control of the House in November — is already vowing to further investigate Kavanaugh, and 40 of Nadler’s pro-abortion colleagues floated talk of impeachment. In the House, only a simple-majority vote would be required to adopt articles of impeachment and send them to the Senate for a trial.
We should be clear: This isn’t about Justice Kavanaugh’s qualifications, and it is certainly not about helping assault victims heal. Kavanaugh’s detractors will never accept him as legitimate, just as they will never accept the pro-life president who nominated him as legitimate.
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Three of the country’s most radical abortion-advocacy groups — Planned Parenthood, EMILY’s List, and NARAL — are spending more than $70 million combined on the midterm elections, including multi-million-dollar campaigns specifically to try to flip the House.
If Democrats take control of the Senate, the past few weeks’ experience will look restrained and modest by comparison. Imagine the scene if, for instance, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat were to become vacant. Like the rest of President Trump’s pro-life agenda, judicial reform will grind to a halt if abortion extremists control either chamber of Congress, and current judges will not be spared their rancor. We cannot allow that to happen. With so much at stake, sitting out this election is simply not an option.
Our greatest opportunity to restore a pro-life Senate majority lies in states carried by President Trump in 2016, where incumbent Democrats voted against the confirmation of Kavanaugh. Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Bill Nelson (Fla.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), and Jon Tester (Mt.) betrayed their constituents in doing so. Susan B. Anthony List’s field team of more than 700 canvassers has spent months on the ground in these states, reaching more than two million pro-life voters at their doors to inform them and motivate them to get to the polls.
Equally important are several new opportunities to elect courageous pro-life women leaders to the Senate: Republicans Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Leah Vukmir (Wisc.), Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (Miss.), Karin Housley (Minn.), and Martha McSally (Ariz.).
This is an “all hands on deck” moment for voters in these states, who believe in our nation’s founding principles and long to see human life protected at every stage of development and condition of dependency. Pro-life candidates for the House too numerous to list also need our support. These elections are essential because it would be a tragedy to lose so much as an inch of the ground we have fought so hard to gain on the sanctity of life.
Some naysayers in the media dismiss Americans’ joy at the confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh as a mere “sugar high” and dismiss their outrage over his vilification as something that will soon fade away and have no lasting impact. We in the pro-life movement intend to prove them wrong. In this crucial test of our resolve, knowledge and the ballot box are powerful tools. Each and every one of us must do our part to champion the unborn on Election Day.
LifeNews Note: Marjorie Dannenfelser is the president of the Susan B. Anthony List, a pro-life women’s group.
