When it comes to Gorsuch, remember: “You are the company you keep.”
Hannah Groch-Begley, Research Director for NARAL Pro-Choice America
As the Neil Gorsuch confirmation fight continues, I’ve had one well known saying replaying in my mind over and over again.
“You are the company you keep.”
In the weeks since Neil Gorsuch was nominated by Donald Trump to fill the open seat on the Supreme Court, the GOP has tried to convince the public that Gorsuch is just a nice, well-educated guy who loves puppies. But ever since, we’ve learned a lot more about his record, defined by its cruelty towards workers and women.
And when you take a look at the groups supporting Neil Gorsuch — the company he keeps — you’ll see a set of extreme anti-choice groups who want nothing more than for Roe v. Wade to be overturned, and for abortion to be banned in this country. If you’re a woman, LGBTQ, or an American who simply believes in our constitutional freedoms, the company he keeps is terrifying.
In their “ideal world,” birth control pills and IUDs would be illegal. People who seek abortions would face life in prison. And it would be the government’s biblical duty to execute abortion providers.
Yes, really.
These are just a few of the positions held by the extreme anti-choice groups currently supporting Gorsuch and fighting — with a great deal of money and organizing power — to get him confirmed as soon as possible.
The groups that hold these extreme, out-of-step positions are, respectively, Students for Life, the Susan B. Anthony List, and Operation Rescue. They’re not just supporting Gorsuch — they’ve celebrated his nomination.
He’s also been heralded by the Family Research Council, a designated hate group that’s called homosexuality a mental health issue, American Values, who that claimed that through abortion, “we are committing a 9/11 almost every day,” and many more.
There are many reasons why it’s clear that Gorsuch is an extreme and unacceptable nominee for the Supreme Court. His cruelty towards workers in the defense of large corporations, his dismissive and dangerous attitude towards women’s rights, and his insistence on “focusing backward” when it comes to the law (no matter how many rights Americans may lose in the process), all stand on their own as reason enough to oppose his confirmation to the highest court in the land.
But as NARAL’s Director of Research, I see even more than just his record. I see how beloved he is by the most extreme, violent, ideological sections of the right — the people who keep me up at night, because they threaten both our lives and our most fundamental rights.
These groups aren’t just supporting him because they had no other choice. They’re rejoicing. They’re thrilled.
Because he’s their guy. He’s Trump’s guy. They are completely convinced that with a lifetime appointment, he’ll make sure their radical agenda is the law of the land.
And that agenda tells women that they shouldn’t take birth control pills or have abortions, but then doesn’t allow LGBTQ parents to adopt. It’s an agenda that’s committed to what they see as the “vision of the Founding Fathers,” which has no space for marriage equality or women’s rights.
And despite just how extreme these groups are, Gorsuch has done absolutely nothing to distance himself from them and their extreme beliefs.
Let’s be clear: it’s not like he hasn’t had plenty of time and opportunity to set the record straight. Gorsuch chose to spend his confirmation hearing repeatedly saying absolutely nothing. He had a chance to disavow these extreme groups backing his nomination, but he didn’t. That’s telling.
It’s not too much to ask a nominee for our Supreme Court, who will serve for a lifetime. In fact, it’s the very least we should demand.
You are the company you keep. And we know exactly who Neil Gorsuch is.
