National Association of Women Lawyers Issues Statement on Judge Kavanaugh’s Candidacy

Editor’s Note:  The author discloses that she is a member of the committee that wrote the report discussed below.

In finding Judge Kavanaugh unqualified to serve on the US Supreme Court, the National Association of Women Lawyers’ Supreme Court Committee (NAWL) approached their assessment from the perspective of the nominee’s commitment to  concerns faced by women and legal issues that have a special impact on women and their families. 

The committee found that in several ways Judge Kavanaugh is a strong force in promoting women in the profession.  For example, he aggressively hires female law clerks, one year hiring all female law clerks.  The committee acknowledged that Judge Kavanaugh showed a more than casual understanding of domestic violence in his majority opinion written in Nwoye v US. 

Yet other opinions raised serious concerns, particularly in the arena of reproductive rights.  Most notably Garzar v. Hargan and Priests for Life v. HSS.  In Garzar, Judge Kavanaugh revealed what NAWL felt was a patronizing attitude toward the minor who had made a decision to have an abortion.  Despite that the 17 year old refugee had participated successfully in a judicial bypass hearing, and had a guardian ad litem, Judge Kavanaugh questioned her lack of support in making the decision .  Judge Kavanaugh’s solution would have delayed the procedure to a time where an abortion would become more dangerous. 

While in Priests for Life the NAWL committee stated:   “The Committee is concerned that anytime a party asserts an infringement of their religious beliefs, Judge Kavanaugh would not proceed to any additional analysis of the extent of the burden or the reasonableness of the asserted infringement. A mere assertion of rights under RFRA would essentially defeat any individual rights, even those rooted in the Constitution.”

The full NAWL report may be read here.