A resolution to oppose the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court

WHEREAS, Congress and the White House are both controlled by anti-worker forces which are hostile to the rights of the LGBT community, women, immigrants, organized labor, persons of color and the otherwise disenfranchised and powerless;

WHEREAS, Americans look to the Courts to safeguard our rights, our liberties and the ability of those who are out of power to participate in our society on an equal basis;

WHEREAS, the President has nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh to fill the current vacancy left by Justice Anthony Kennedy on the United States Supreme Court;

WHEREAS, Justice Kennedy was often a swing vote on the US Supreme Court and his replacement with a more conservative justice, as Judge Kavanaugh promises to be, will endanger the right of LGBT Americans to participate in our society on an equal, nondiscriminatory basis, the ability of higher education institutions to diversify through the use of limited affirmative action, the right to choose, and many other rights we take for granted;

WHEREAS, the current, conservative US Supreme Court has demonstrated its hostility to organized labor and the right of public sector workers to bind together to affect their terms and conditions of employment by deciding, in Janus v. AFSCME, that the rights of workers who want to reap the benefits of a labor agreement without paying for the services they receive are more important than the freedom of association rights of the majority of their public sector bargaining units, and a Court with an even more conservative majority will accelerate the erosion of rights of public sector employees;

WHEREAS, Judge Brett Kavanaugh considers himself an originalist in the vein of former Supreme Court Justice Antoni Scalia, a Justice who was an outspoken foe of LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, immigrant rights, and voting rights; and

WHEREAS, Judge Brett Kavanaugh has dangerous views on issues of executive power that pose a risk to the ability of the American public, Congress and the Courts to hold executive branch employees accountable and that promises to politicize administrative hearings;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that Pride at Work encourage all members to request their union and local union members to contact their United States Senators and urge them to vote NO on the appointment of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court.

Submitted by Doug Boney, IATSE