| For Immediate Release: September 20, 2018 Contact: [email protected] |
As the news about Brett Kavanaugh’s alleged attempted rape continues to occupy the national conversation, Texans are asking: We believe Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, but do Senators Cruz and Cornyn? NARAL members stormed the Hill and launched a digital ad campaign asking this same question.
Senators Cruz and Cornyn should not side with Brett Kavanaugh over Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, and should join the growing call for Kavanaugh to withdraw his nomination. We’ve seen him lie time and time again, even potentially perjuring himself during his Senate confirmation hearings last week. It begs the question, if he has already lied, multiple times, how can Senators Cruz and Cornyn believe him now? Texans know Kavanaugh can’t be trusted to make decisions about our most fundamental freedoms.
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Secret emails that Republicans tried to hide from the American people revealed rock solid evidence that Brett Kavanaugh misled senators and the American people on his views about abortion and Roe v Wade. The emails revealed that, despite the show he put on in front of the Senate, Kavanaugh questions if Roe is “settled law” and thinks the Supreme Court “can always overrule its precedent.”
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The “committee confidential” emails released during the hearings showed that Kavanaugh made a series of false statements, under oath, during hearings for his current position on the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and again at hearings for our highest Court. Then and now, his answers simply weren’t true.
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In 2004, 2006 and during his confirmation hearings, Kavanaugh lied about whether he used materials stolen from Democratic senators to advance President Bush’s judicial nominees.
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Kavanaugh made false and misleading statements on a number of issues, including his views on abortion, because he knows he would never be confirmed if the American public — and Republicans in the Senate — finds out his true beliefs, his true ideological agenda, and his dark past as a far-right wing political operative.
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Brett Kavanaugh used his Senate hearings to push lies and junk science often pedaled by the anti-choice movement. He referred to birth control as “abortion-inducing drugs”, a phrase that is not only widely disproven by scientific evidence but is also widely used by the extreme anti-choice movement.
In the past, Senators Cruz and Cornyn have publicly condemned sexual assault and, in some cases, supported legislation to protects women and victims of sexual violence.
Senator Ted Cruz has said:
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In 2013: “The Supreme Court defined rape, short of murder, as the ultimate violation of self.”
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“In the recent months, we’ve seen scores of victims come forth with horrific stories of sexual abuse & harassment. Sadly, we also discovered a pattern of secret taxpayer-funded settlements for members of Congress accused of harassment or assault. That is unacceptable.”
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Supported legislation to combat sexual assault and harassment in the military and in Congress
Senator John Cornyn:
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In 2012 Sen. Cornyn introduced the SAFER Act as an amendment to the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).
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In 2018 he introduced the Accountability of Leaders in Education to Report Title IX Investigations (ALERT) Act, legislation to hold universities that receive federal funding accountable for sexual abuse cases that threaten the safety of their students.
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In 2018 he sought to ensure prosecution of juvenile sexual assault perpetrators. The bill would close the jurisdictional gap across military bases that has allowed juvenile perpetrators of sexual assault against other children on bases to slip through the cracks without facing prosecution. Senator Cornyn said, “This effort will allow local prosecutors to pursue these cases so families can get justice for their children.”
Texans are rising up, standing in solidarity with Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and against dishonest Brett Kavanaugh, and they’re paying attention to whether or not Senators Cruz and Cornyn will do the same. If they vote “yes” to confirm they are betraying women and families of Texas.
Texans rally in Austin on August 26, 2018 during the Unite for Justice Rally, the largest single day protest of a Supreme Court Nominee in history, to mail postcards to their Senators.