Attached is an electronic copy of the League of Women Voters of West Virginia Fall 2018 Voter newsletter.
As an addendum, yesterday (10/4), the League issued this unprecedented press release: https://www.lwv.org/newsroom/press-releases/league-urges-senators-vote-no-ka...
"Judge Kavanaugh has shown the country that he does not possess fair and unbiased judicial temperament."
"We urge Senators to vote NO on Kavanaugh."
If you get the opportunity, please call Senator Manchin, who remains undecided, and Senator Capito to urge them to vote NO.
Here is a communication from the League of Women Voters President, Chris Carson, that clarifies the League's position:
Last week the national Board met in Washington DC as Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Kavanaugh testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
As a Board, we made the decision that we could not sit silent. This is an important moment in our history and the League must demand a process that will uphold the integrity of the U.S. Supreme Court. We stood with a number of nonpartisan organizations, including the American Bar Association, which asked the Senate to delay a floor vote pending a full investigation into the allegations of sexual misconduct. We made a strong statement and issued an Action Alert encouraging the public to call their senators to encourage them to delay a vote.
Yesterday, we made the decision to formally oppose this nominee based on his judicial temperament. This is not about the nominee's judicial philosophy; where he stands on issues which we have studied and have a position. This is about his ability to step away from personal beliefs and render judgement based on facts and the law.
This nominee launched an unprovoked and blatant partisan attack on those who opposed his nomination, claiming that was their motivation. He was abusive and insulting to US Senators when they questioned him. It is their right and obligation as our elected representatives to ask tough questions of nominees for our highest court. Yet he treated them - the women Senators - with rudeness and disrespect.
This has never happened before. The Supreme Court decides cases which impact our nation's future. We cannot sit silent and by that silence acquiesce in the appointment of someone who has publicly declared himself to be deeply partisan and highly emotional when faced with sustained disagreement.
Fifty years ago, LWVUS leadership sat silent when the Civil Rights movement began. The rationale was that we hadn't specifically studied those issues, even the voting rights component, and so we couldn't speak out. I understand why they felt they couldn't speak out. It was the culture. But by 1970, the membership was so angry they forced a statement through at the biennial convention which allowed us to speak out without having 'studied' those particular issues. We're now acknowledging that error and apologizing for what happened. I offer our membership the vision fifty years hence of their president acknowledging and apologizing for the League silence on this unprecedented situation because we hadn't studied the issue of whether we thought judicial temperament was important for our democracy.
I will close with this bit of news which has just come over the wires. Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, a lifelong Republican, told a small crowd in Boca Raton that Judge Brett Kavanaugh's performance at confirmation hearings should disqualify him.
Chris Carson, President/Chair League of Women Voters of the United States