by Hanna Bogorowski
The ACLU took another step against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh Monday after it launched a million dollar advertisement campaign opposing his nomination and likening the judge to convicted sexual predator Bill Cosby.
The campaign targets a handful of Republican senators, including Sens. Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, as well as Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
The ACLU took the nontraditional step of opposing Kavanaugh’s nomination on Saturday, a move the supposedly non-partisan organization called “rare.”
“In this instance, the national board held an extraordinary meeting, and has chosen to make an exception” to its policy of not supporting or opposing candidates for political offices or judicial office.
The organization took this opposition one step further Monday when it announced it spent over $1 million in television advertisements urging said Republican senators to vote against Kavanaugh.
“We’ve seen this before, denials from powerful men,” the ad begins, showing images of famous men accused of sexual assault, including disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein and former President Bill Clinton. “America is watching,” it warns.
NEW: When we said we're going to use the full force of the ACLU to stop Brett Kavanaugh, we meant it.
We're spending more than $1 million to run ads like this in Nebraska, Colorado, West Virginia, and Alaska 👇 pic.twitter.com/dWyN1XYh29
— ACLU (@ACLU) October 1, 2018
The advertisement goes on to show Clinton and Cosby denying sexual assault allegations right before it does the same for Kavanaugh.
“We’ve decided to move to opposition,” the ACLU’s national political director, Faiz Shakir, told The Washington Post. “It was incumbent upon us to show how we can flex our muscles in trying to persuade our people in the Kavanaugh vote.”
The White House issued a statement in response to the ads, saying the attacks reveal the organization’s true partisan colors.
“For the ACLU which claims to care about civil liberties to condemn Brett Kavanaugh to the likes of a convicted felon without any evidence shows their true partisan stripes,” the statement reads.
Shakir told the Post that the ACLU’s advocacy branch has grown since President Donald Trump’s election, and the advertisements are meant to show donors that their money is being put to use.
“ACLU’s political growth and advocacy has increased since Donald Trump was elected president. We’ve had a massive growth in volunteer base and massive growth in financial resources,” he said. “People have funded us, and I think they expect a return.”
A few Republicans have voiced their dislike of the organization’s blatantly political stance, including Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas.
“As an organization that used to pride itself on defending rights of an accused, due process and the Bill of Rights. No more […],” Cornyn tweeted Sunday.
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Hanna Bogorowski is a reporter at the Daily Caller News Foundation. Follow Hanna on Twitter.
