“With our most fundamental rights — and health — at stake, the United States Senate is putting politics ahead of its constitutional duty by expediting its hearings on President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Beginning the hearing on September 4, well before the National Archives can produce Kavanaugh’s records from his time at the White House Counsel’s Office, is an indefensible move that demonstrates no integrity, no respect for the constitution and no regard whatsoever for the basic rights and freedoms we all have at stake.

The vote on whether or not to confirm Kavanaugh will affect our laws and lives for decades, and the Senate deserves time to fully and rigorously explore his records, judicial philosophy and views. A rushed, bogus hearing makes a mockery of the constitutional process for confirming justices to our highest court and puts our most cherished rights at stake.

President Trump has no mandate to reshape our courts yet, with this nomination, we face the very real prospect of a U.S. Supreme Court that will take away the fundamental women’s rights, civil rights, LGBTQ and immigrants’ rights that we have long relied on the courts to protect. If Judge Kavanaugh is confirmed, we could lose our right to privacy and abortion, to fair and equal treatment at school and work, and to live and love freely. We could lose the voting rights that are the foundation of our democracy. Kavanaugh would shift the balance on the Court and threaten our access to health care. He might well allow the Trump administration to undermine Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act and make it impossible for people with pre-existing conditions to get affordable health insurance.

This hearing, while Kavanaugh’s records are incomplete, will be forever tainted. The Senate has a responsibility to all of us to do better than this.”