Let there be no doubt: Brett Kavanaugh has been nominated to the Supreme Court because of his ideological partisanship, in order to further a radical agenda.

We have heard plenty, and we will hear more, about precedent, restraint, originalism and fidelity to the law, but these terms are covers: on the Circuit Court, Kavanaugh has voted against Supreme Court precedent repeatedly when it suits his politics, to attack the rights of workers (Agri Processor Co., Inc. v. NLRB, 2008), women (Priests for Life v. HHS, 2015) or, in a breathtaking lone dissent, immigrants, women and incarcerated people all at once (Garza v. Hargan, 2017). The list goes on.

Kavanaugh is unusually partisan, dissenting from settled law, and judicial majorities, more than his colleagues. Of course he will present himself before the Senate as a fair-minded arbiter of the law, but we should not trust him.

Why not? Because he has lied to the U.S. Senate before. During his confirmation hearings to the Circuit Court of Appeals, he denied any involvement in the Bush administration’s torture policies, policies on which he was later revealed to have consulted extensively. We don’t know what other abuses Kavanaugh may have been implicated in during his time in the Bush White House because Republicans have gone against recent precedent and withheld those records from Senate scrutiny.

This is a lifetime appointment; if confirmed Kavanaugh will spend decades on the bench, restricting access to health care, protecting corporate interests, and supporting the GOP party line, with no regard for law or precedent.

We in Maine are in a unique position to lead in this struggle. Tell Susan Collins to vote no on Kavanaugh, in the name of civil rights, in the name of judicial restraint, in the name of the people.

Andrew Hamilton

Brunswick