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The NAD needs you to contact your Senators to tell them you oppose Brett Kavanaugh for the U.S. Supreme Court and ask that they nominate another person. #AskHoward

For the review by the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law and letters from other Disability Rights Organizations -- Link


VIDEO DESC & TRANSCRIPT: Howard A. Rosenblum is sitting at his desk. The NAD logo appears on bottom right corner as a watermark.

HOWARD: We want to let you know that the NAD opposes the U.S. Supreme Court Nomination. The Supreme Court is the "last" stop when it comes to making nationwide decisions; cases start at lower courts before reaching the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is occupied by nine justices. One justice, Anthony Kennedy, recently retired. The President nominated Brett Kavanaugh to replace Justice Kennedy. The U.S. Senate is reviewing the nomination, interviewing Kavanaugh about his background, opinions, ideas, and history as a judge. However, many disability rights organizations are now opposing this nomination because Kavanaugh's previous records, history, and opinions have not been good for the disability community. These disability rights organizations do not agree that Kavanaugh should become a Supreme Court Justice. The NAD does not usually get involved in political issues due to our status as a non-profit. However, given the importance of this issue and with many other disability rights organizations making their disagreement public, we are joining forces with them. The NAD's mission is to preserve, protect, and promote the civil, human, and linguistic rights of deaf and hard of hearing Americans. Kavanaugh's opinions and history as a judge does not align with our mission and any decisions he make will affect our civil, human, and linguistic rights. We must make sure the next Supreme Court Judge understands and protects our civil, human, and linguistic rights. Kavanaugh's record as a judge concerns us. One example of extreme importance involves his opinion on disability employment discrimination under the ADA and other laws, particularly one case that involved a deaf person. A deaf man, Adeyemi, sued the D.C. Government for not hiring him for a job position. Adeymi stated that his qualifications and experience were as good or better than other applicants, and therefore he should have been hired. Judge Kavanaugh wrote an opinion stating that Adeyemi's did not prove he is "significantly better qualified" than other applicants. This means Adeyemi would have had to prove he is much more qualified than the hired persons and other applicants to prove employment discrimination. This is a very difficult way to prove discrimination and is not fair. Deaf people should be able to get jobs based on reasonable standards of comparable qualifications. Another concern involves another case where the DC Government was sued for allowing doctors to perform surgeries without permission on people with cognitive disabilities. At the time, Judge Kavanaugh shared his opinion that the DC Government could indeed permit doctors to continue the surgeries without permission. In this case, those people with cognitive disabilities did not have medical decision making authority but the lawsuit sought to give them the power to question and discuss the implications of the surgery. Judge Kavanaugh decided that they don't need to be asked. Another concern about Kavanaugh are his opinions against the Affordable Care Act (ACA). While there are many views about the ACA, Kavanaugh's strong opposition against the ACA affects the right to affordable health insurance for many deaf people and people with disabilities. These are just among the many reasons the NAD is very concerned with the nomination of Kavanaugh to become a Supreme Court Justice. We encourage you to contact your Senators right now as they are deciding whether to accept or decline Kavanaugh's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. We need you to tell both of your two Senators in your state that you oppose Brett Kavanaugh for the U.S. Supreme Court and ask that they nominate another person. Resourceful links are provided in this video post with further information and research by the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law. The Center conducted an intensive research on Kavanaugh's history. This video post also includes opposition letters from other disability rights organizations. Thank you.

Video fades to a soft white background with several different font types showing “NAD” very quickly. Copyright video ends with the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) logo centered. Blue text below the logo appears, "The National Association of the Deaf / (copyright) 2018 All Rights Reserved / Link ; a yellow highlight of the URL appears at the end.