Brett Kavanaugh Sure Does Love Giant Corporations

Stephanie Mencimer reports that Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, has a well-developed judicial philosophy:

In both his rulings and public speeches, he has criticized a Supreme Court precedent that instructs judges to defer to federal agencies when interpreting environmental or consumer protection regulations. He has suggested that such deference allows federal agencies to run amok in their efforts to crack down on alleged wrongdoing by polluters or dangerous industries, and that the high court precedent may be a mistake.

….A new study out from the consumer group Public Citizen found that in his decisions from the bench, Kavanaugh’s distaste for the work of federal agencies like the EPA or the FCC on regulatory issues has not been so consistent. President George W. Bush appointed Kavanaugh to the influential DC Circuit Court of Appeals in 2006, and since then, he’s been involved in more than 1,000 cases. Public Citizen found that in many of the most contentious ones, Kavanaugh has frequently argued in favor of deferring to federal regulatory agencies—but only when they’re ruling in favor of big corporations.

This practically begs for a chart. So here it is:

Impressive! In any case where there’s a scintilla of doubt, Kavanaugh votes for big corporations 87 percent of the time. In police abuse and antitrust cases, he takes the side of The Man a full 100 percent of the time.

As usual, it may be the working class that helped vote Republicans into power, but it’s the business class that gets all the rewards.

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

payment methods

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate