Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s conservatism is only half the story
The most important question for American democracy is whether Trump’s Supreme Court nominee subscribes to judicial restraint, writes Cass Sunstein
So it’s Judge Brett Kavanaugh. There will be time enough to explore the nominee’s views and record. Let’s step back a bit and get some perspective on the national debate that is about to take place in the US. Those on the left fear, and those on the right hope, that Judge Kavanaugh will prove pivotal to an assortment of new constitutional rulings: protecting gun rights, overruling Roe v Wade, invalidating affirmative action, crippling the regulatory state, striking down the Affordable Care Act, and allowing people with religious objections to discriminate against gays and lesbians. Such rulings would, of course, take sides on issues that sharply divide the American people. It would be genuinely depressing if the public debate over Judge Kavanaugh, and the confirmation process, turn out to be focused on one question: how conservative is he, exactly? That’s a terrible question, because it ignores a crucial difference between two kinds of judges — a difference that cuts across traditio...
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