Matt Schlapp: Brett Kavanaugh Would Be a ‘Bold, Brilliant Supreme Court Justice’

Matt Schlapp, the chairman of the American Conservative Union (ACU) and CPAC, wrote an op-ed in the Hill on Thursday that U.S. District of Columbia circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh would be a “bold, brilliant, Supreme Court justice.”

Schlapp wrote, “Too many times, conservatives have been burned by Supreme Court nominees who lack a judicial record that demonstrates their approach.” In contrast, the ACU chairman contended Kavanaugh has consistently applied a robust originalist approach to his court proceedings.

“Over his 12 years on the D.C. Circuit, Judge Kavanaugh has consistently, boldly, and fearlessly applied textualism and originalism to a striking range of legal issues,” Schlapp contended. “Even more impressive is that, during the past decade, the Supreme Court has adopted Kavanaugh’s position an astonishing 11 times.”

Schlapp added, “He literally wrote the book on judicial precedent, with Justice Gorsuch as one of his co-authors. No one else on the president’s list comes even close to that level of influence.”

The ACU chairman continued, explaining how the Circuit judge’s opinions have stood up for constitutional principles and have also influenced Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s opinions. Schlapp said:

There are many examples of Kavanaugh’s willingness to take a stand. In a major Second Amendment case, he dissented from a decision that upheld a ban on semi-automatic rifles. (Justice Thomas has repeatedly cited that opinion in his own writings.) Kavanaugh struck down campaign spending limits on non-profits. He dissented from a decision that upheld the ObamaCare contraceptive mandate. He explained that public prayer at official government ceremonies is constitutional. And he sided with the Trump administration in a high-profile abortion case, dissenting from what he called a “radical” majority opinion that invented “a new right for unlawful immigrant minors in U.S. government detention to obtain immediate abortion on demand.”

Breitbart News reported on Wednesday how Judge Kavanaugh appears to share President Donald Trump ’s views on immigration and protecting American workers.

In one case, Kavanaugh wrote a dissenting opinion that illegal immigrants do not have the same bargaining rights as American citizens and legal workers.

“… an illegal immigrant worker is not an ’employee’ under the NLRA for the simple reason that, ever since 1986, an illegal immigrant worker is not a lawful ’employee’ in the United States,” Kavanaugh wrote.

In another case, Kavanaugh noted that American multi-national corporations do not have the right to import foreign workers.

The Circuit judge explained, “Under the provision of the immigration laws at issue here, mere economic expediency does not authorize an employer to displace American workers for foreign workers.”

Prominent conservative Ann Coulter has also called for Trump to nominate Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court, arguing that other judges such as Thomas Hardiman and Raymond Kethledge “are open borders zealots.”

Coulter added, “HUGE! Kavanaugh is (currently) the only potential S Ct nominee whose understanding of immigration law extends beyond ‘I NEED A CHEAP LANDSCAPER.’”

President Trump will likely announce his nominee to replace the outgoing Supreme Court Judge Anthony Kennedy on July 9.

Schlapp also rebuked the argument that Kavanaugh will become “another John Roberts” who will become a moderate after moving onto the bench.

“Kavanaugh is not another Roberts; he’s another Scalia, Alito, or Gorsuch. In fact, on issues such as reining in the administrative state, he is arguably more conservative than even those three highly regarded justices,” Schlapp said.

“In Kavanaugh, the nation will have a justice who is versed in the law, respectful to those around him, and unafraid to do his duty, which is to uphold the Constitution and nothing — absolutely nothing — more,” Schlapp concluded.