WASHINGTON, D.C. – A group of 16 activists from Colorado, including sexual assault survivors, will shift their focus to educating Colorado voters for the upcoming midterm elections after Judge Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed as the 114th U.S. Supreme Court justice Saturday, despite widespread protests.
The group, which calls itself The Colorado 16, is made up of activists from the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, Colorado Democrats, End Rape on Campus, NARAL Colorado, Planned Parenthood, among other groups. The Colorado 16 traveled to Washington, D.C., to lobby Sens. Cory Gardner, a Republican, and Michael Bennet, a Democrat, to oppose Kavanaugh’s confirmation and speak with them about their platforms on sexual assault policies and prevention.
Portia Prescott, the first vice chair of the African American Initiative of Colorado Democrats and a member with The Colorado 16, said she came to Washington to urge Gardner to vote NO on Kavanaugh and to encourage Bennet to be a stronger Democratic leader.
“Republicans talk about draining the swamp – they are the swamp,” Prescott said. “They didn’t even have cellphones when they first ran for office. It’s time for change.”
Jen Samano, the campaign coordinator for the ACLU Colorado and part of the Colorado 16, said the ACLU’s next move is to focus on a voting rights campaign in Colorado that is meant to educate and mobilize voters, and to have a “civil conversation” with Gardner about a path forward. She said her first reaction to Kavanaugh’s confirmation was sadness, and then conviction.
“Even more conviction to bring justice, even more conviction to unify the people,” Samano said.
Samano, Prescott and other members of the group attended a rally Saturday on the steps of the Supreme Court. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran from Colorado also spoke at the rally. Earlier Saturday, members of the End Rape on Campus group and some members of the Colorado 16 group met with Bennet staffers.
Samano said the group met with Gardner’s chief of staff, Natalie Rogers, at 9 a.m. Thursday, but were unable to meet with Gardner himself at that time. They worked to schedule a meeting with Gardner later that day, and after some difficulty getting the meeting scheduled, Gardner met with the group around 3 p.m. Thursday.
But Gardner announced his continued support for Kavanaugh’s nomination in a statement Friday after saying the FBI report had no evidence “to corroborate the allegations made against him or to make me change the support I announced for him in July.”
“We live in a country where both sides should always be heard,” Gardner said in his statement. “I hope that the partisan divide we all feel today does not hinder the people that have bravely come forward.”
Samano and Prescott said they were not “easy” on Bennet, either, with both calling on the senator to adopt stronger leadership and more visible activism. Both commended the senator for his NO vote in the Kavanaugh conformation hearing, and for the hourslong meeting they had.
“He gave us time, he gave us transparency and honesty,” Samano said. “We had an organic conversation that was beyond talking points and he took to heart our criticisms. … His staffers would ask us follow-up questions and engage with that, and they would ask, ‘What more can we do?’ and, ‘We’ll see what happens.’”
Bennet and his staff met with a group of “sexual assault survivors” Thursday afternoon and again Saturday, Samano and Prescott said. Bennet previously released a statement saying he connected Debbie Ramirez of Boulder, Kavanaugh’s second accuser, with Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett before she went public with her allegations.
Bennet released statements critical of the confirmation process, the resulting partisanship and the destruction of the 60-vote threshold in the confirmation process. Bennet said he is open to fixing a partisan system of confirming a Supreme Court nominee, possibly by reinstating the threshold.
“I have not met a single Coloradoan who believes that confirming judges with 51 Republicans or 51 Democrats, instead of 90 votes from both parties, serves the independence of our judiciary. It does the opposite; it makes the courts an extension of our partisanship,” Bennet said on the Senate floor Thursday.
Bennet confirmed his NO vote after originally announcing his opposition in early September. He said on the floor that he has concerns about what the confirmation would mean for Coloradoans, including those with pre-existing conditions, same-sex couples, women and survivors of sexual assault.
While members of the Colorado 16 commended Bennet for his NO vote Saturday, Prescott and Samano said they will need to figure out how to move forward after Gardner voted YES despite opposition.
“Sen. Cory Gardner was elected so that he would represent Colorado, and we hope he understands that because he had to vote YES for his political career, we get that, but we won’t forget that,” Prescott said.
Emily Martin is a student American University in Washington, D.C., and an intern for The Durango Herald.
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