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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Hundreds March on Supreme Court Building to Protest Kavanaugh

Several hundred protestors had a message for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Thursday as they gathered before the nation’s highest court: we won’t be quiet.

WASHINGTON (CN) – Several hundred protestors had a message for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Thursday as they gathered before the nation’s highest court: we won’t be quiet.

The words were sung, chanted and oft-repeated over the course of the afternoon by women, men, children, the elderly, and members of the LGBT, disability- and religious-rights communities who virgously opposed Kavanaugh's confirmation.

Their march began about noon outside the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse in Washington and proceeded along Constitution Ave N.W. to the U.S. Supreme Court building.

Trina Perry, carrying a sign that read “Our Courts, Our Lives” said she came to Washington Thursday because she “could not sit still and let others do the speaking” for her any longer.

Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, who alleged Kavanaugh assaulted her at a party over 30 years ago, tried to keep quiet, Perry said.

“She tried to do it discretely. But this is the best thing to happen because we have to put the brakes on this process that has been sped up for no reason,” she said.

Perry had a message for women – “I cannot speak for men,” she said – who were seen laughing and in what she believes was open mockery of Ford during a recent rally led by President Donald Trump.

“For women to be in that room knowing 1 in 3 women are survivors of sexual assault…these women should be taking a deeper look at themselves and at who is supporting them,” she said.

Peter MacDowell, a retired organizer, said he came to the protest for a simple reason.

“I’m absolutely disgusted at the idea of pushing this very right wing, misogynist, totally bias character onto the court. It’s extremely frustrating,” MacDowell said, as he carried a sign which read: “FBI: You can’t find what you’re not allowed to look for.”

Another person in the crowd, Anna Bodine, said Thursday marked her first time exercising her right to protest.

“I never did anything like this in my life,” she said. “What [Brett Kavanaugh] said about the Renate Alumni – I’m of that era. I knew what it meant. What he said just wasn’t believable. I lost respect for him during that testimony.”

During his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, Kavanaugh denied that the frequent mention of the "Renate Alumni" in his high school yearbook was sexual in nature.

He claimed it was a way to honor a young woman, Renate Dolphin, who fellow male students befriended.

Kavanaugh’s former classmates told the Washington Post that the “alumni” was a boast, and that she was considered a conquest.

Categories / Government, National, Politics

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