“John Paul Stevens on Kavanaugh.”
The late Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens, in the last words he wrote in his life, said some interesting thing about then-judge Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh, while a judge on the D.C. Federal Court, joined a three-judge panel to write an opinion in a case known as Bluman versus Federal Election Commission, 2011, where non-citizens but permanent residents sued to be granted the right to make campaign contributions. Their petition was denied.
Stevens, in his last book entitled Six Amendments published in 2014, writes glowingly of Kavanaugh, calling his work thoughtful. He quotes from his lower court opinion and even includes a color photo of the judge as well as other Supreme Court justices that he writes about in his book. Six Amendments, which lists Steven’s proposed amendments to the constitution, such as abolition of the death penalty, because it’s a violation of the Eighth Amendment, was of course published several years before the controversy that colored his confirmation hearings.
It does, however, provide insight into how Kavanaugh was perceived by some members of the high court. Stevens served 34 years on the court and changed several of his early opinions over time as shown in his last book Six Amendments. Steven’s past in 2019.
From imprisoned nation, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
