A central goal of Not Dead Yet is to voice disability opposition to legalization of assisted suicide. Therefore, people might wonder why Not Dead Yet opposes the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who has expressed views against assisted suicide. We oppose his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court because his written court opinions and expressed views threaten to dismantle the hard won civil rights and protections on which our very lives depend.
Several national disability rights organizations have analyzed Judge Kavanaugh’s record and documented their findings, including groups that join Not Dead Yet in opposing assisted suicide laws.
Our gravest concern is Judge Kavanaugh’s opposition to the Affordable Care Act, including protections for people with pre-existing conditions as well as home and community based alternatives to abusive warehousing in nursing facilities and institutions. It is simple math that managed care insurers will profit if expensive people are eliminated from their enrollment. As the American Association of People with Disabilities stated:
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) allowed millions more people with disabilities to gain access to health care by prohibiting discrimination on the basis of a pre-existing condition. Judge Kavanaugh has repeatedly expressed public skepticism of the ACA and has ruled in several cases to undermine elements of the law and hinder its implementation. These rulings set a dangerous precedent for the disability community.
The denial of healthcare and supports to live in freedom equal nothing less than backdoor euthanasia.
We are also concerned about the imposition of guardianships and other policies that strip people with disabilities of any health care decision making rights. As the Autistic Self Advocacy Network stated:
As a judge, Kavanaugh has a history of denying disabled people’s rights. In 2007, Kavanaugh ruled against 3 women with intellectual disabilities who had been forced to have abortions or other elective surgeries by the city of DC. In this ruling, he said that people with intellectual disabilities do not have the right to have any say at all in what kind of health care they get.
Surrogates can have conflicts of interest and must not be given carte blanche over our healthcare and lives. Supported decision making preserves our right to self determination.
Judge Kavanaugh has also been hostile to employment protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act. As the National Council on Independent Living stated:
Another particularly concerning ruling was Judge Kavanaugh’s Baloch v. Kempthorne decision to reject a worker’s disability discrimination and retaliation claims. In this case, a worker with a disability sued his employer for imposing strict sick leave restrictions, giving him low performance reviews, and directing “profanity-laden yelling” at him after he made a formal administrative complaint. Judge Kavanaugh’s decision in this case shows his active complicity in allowing abusive environments that are a direct threat to the health and well-being of America’s workforce, and it sets the tone for complacency in the face of hostile and discriminatory work environments.
The Americans with Disabilities Act’s protections against discrimination by health care providers and government entities (such as investigatory and prosecutorial agencies) also form a central legal basis for NDY’s friend of the court briefs filed in assisted suicide cases. Our position is that assisted suicide laws are unlawful discrimination, setting up a two-tiered system in which some people get suicide prevention while others get suicide assistance, with the difference based on their health and disability status.
The Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund summarizes the core values underlying the disability community’s deep concerns about Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” This Declaration of Independence was written by the same founders who made our Constitution the supreme law of the land and divided the balance of power between three distinct branches of government to guard against authoritarian rule. As one of those three branches, the Judiciary’s primary role is to make certain that the Legislature passes laws, and the Executive administers those laws, in ways that respect key principles of the Constitution. Since 1789, the Supreme Court has held a unique and necessary position as the judicial last resort for individuals who seek justice in court and is, in effect, the final interpreter of the United States Constitution. In essence, the U.S. Supreme Court exists to ensure that fluctuating views of those with political influence or power do not undermine the fundamental core values that have consequences for, and are dear, to us all: individual liberty, equality, majority rule with inalienable minority protections.
If Judge Kavanaugh’s discriminatory views are permitted to take hold in the judiciary of this country, more disabled and chronically ill people of all ages will be harmed by society’s ableist bigotry in countless ways. This is unacceptable and his nomination must be unequivocally opposed.