Obama’s Former DOJ Attorney on Kavanaugh: ‘One of the Greatest Threats to Civil and Human Rights’

In this May 26, 2015 file photo, Vanita Gupta, the head of Justice Department's Civil Righ
AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File

The woman who investigated police departments and advanced the rights of homosexuals as the principal deputy assistant attorney general and head of the Civil Rights Division in former President Barack Obama’s Department of Justice said on Tuesday that Brett Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court justice represents “one of the greatest threats to civil and human rights.”

Vanita Gupta, who is now the president and CEO of the left-wing Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, joined a “candlelight vigil” outside of Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Hart Senate Office Building with other leftist groups.

“The hearings that are happening upstairs is an outrage,” Gupta said to the group of protesters, who wore T-shirts emblazoned with the “I Am What’s at Stake” talking point and #WhatsAtStake hashtag Democrats and others opposed to President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace retired Supreme Court Justice, Anthony Kennedy, are using on social media.

“The soul of our very nation is at stake, and yet, Republicans are refusing to provide to the American public … the kind of access to Kavanaugh’s background that is so important to our being able to judge his qualifications,” Gupta said. 

“But based on what we’ve seen, we know that he is one of the greatest threats to civil and human rights right now,” Gupta said.

Gupta said the hearing is “making a mockery of our Democracy” and that Kavanaugh would set back the progress that has been made in the civil rights arena:

“All of that is at stake right now,” Gupta said.

As Breitbart News reported, Democrats had access to a massive amount of records and other documents:

In addition to over 10,000 pages of judicial opinions that Kavanaugh has either authored or joined in his 12 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, senators received from the nominee over 100 pages of written answers to questions, accompanied by 17,000 pages of attachments, and have also received over 400,000 pages thus far of additional document pages associated with Kavanaugh from his years of public service.

Other left-wing groups that took part in the vigil include the National Women’s Law Center, Planned Parenthood, the Center for American Progress, and the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Follow Penny Starr on Twitter.

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