Opinion: Kavanaugh’s Pro-Life stance isn’t enough

Since the June 2018 announcement that Judge Brett Kavanaugh would be President Trump’s next nominee for Supreme Court justice, the battle for the ideological future of the Supreme Court has been fiercely fought and debated over.

Kavanaugh, if confirmed, would create a Supreme Court’s balance of five conservatives and four liberals, and the ideological balance of the court would shift. Former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy was often the deciding vote on several significant cases in the previous decades such as Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Bush v. Gore and Fischer v. University of Texas.

Adam Liptak examined Justice Kennedy for the New York Times and found that he was a centrist, who did not vote based on political ideology, but considered each case on its own individual merit.

Kavanaugh, a staunch conservative, would not replace Kennedy as a balancer, but instead, lock the Supreme Court into a conservative stronghold for years to come. Charlie Savage looked at Kavanaugh’s voting record in cases and found that “with a few exceptions, his pattern is typically conservative.”

The most significant discussion since the nomination announcement has been the perception that Roe v. Wade could become overturned if Judge Kavanaugh is confirmed.

However, it is naïve to believe that repealing Roe v. Wade will end abortions. More than that, as followers of Christ we should not support a nomination only because of Pro-Life stances while ignoring all other far-reaching consequences his confirmation may have.

Kavanaugh may decide the future of healthcare, gun control, abortion, affirmative action and civil rights issues. All are issues with far-reaching generational impact and will suffer if the Supreme Court only votes based on party lines in the years to come. That’s not a court Christians should be celebrating.