On Monday night, hundreds of demonstrators gathered on the steps of the U.S Supreme Court. They were protesting against the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh from the U.S President Donald Trump after replacing Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kavanaugh is a former clerk for Kennedy and investigated the affair of Bill Clinton with Monica Lewinsky. He is a federal appellate judge on the D.C Circuit Court of Appeals. Demonstrators have been mobilizing against the nominee since 27th June after the retirement announcement from Kennedy. But, the U.S President Trump announced his selection on Monday at 9 p.m. After just 15 minutes of the announcement, shouting had changed to “Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, Kavanaugh has got to go”. Some demonstrators had makeshift signs. Point to be noted that Kennedy was the swing vote on some important issues, such as same-sex marriage, abortion, and affirmative action.
Kavanaugh might be a dependable conservative vote. It is a 5-person right-leaning bloc with Justices Samuel Aito, John Roberts, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas. The CEO of the Center of American Progress (one of the groups that organized the rally), Neera Tanden said that protesters are looking at a Supreme Court justice that could fundamentally shift the court. Lydia Kuykendal (working for Gabrielle Giffords gun violence prevention advocacy group) said that the role of Supreme Court could play in gun control and it was the key point for the protest. Kykendal believes that the U.S federal government has a major role to play in preventing gun violence and there is no reason the Supreme Court should not understand that the Second Amendment says well regulated.