HOOVER – Concerned Women for America’s eight-state bus tour made a much-anticipated stop in Alabama on Thursday, with citizens from around the state assembling in Hoover to voice their unequivocal support of President Donald Trump’s nominee to the United States Supreme Court — Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
Approximately one hundred Alabamians, men and women, were in attendance for this “Women for Kavanaugh” rally organized by Concerned Women for America (CWA), a national Christian women’s organization.
CWA is encouraging Alabama voters, especially females, to reach out to Sen. Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook) and voice support for Kavanaugh’s confirmation. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Tuscaloosa) voiced his strong support for the nominee’s confirmation after meeting with him recently, but Alabama’s junior senator is still undecided.
Alabama Republican Party Chair Terry Lathan has repeatedly called on Jones to listen to the majority of his constituents and vote to confirm the nominee, including at a rally in Mobile last week.
Jones recently, talking about efforts to urge him to vote one way or the other, said, “It’s silly. It’s a waste of time.”
Thursday, leaders from CWA and the Birmingham metro area, along with hardworking Alabamians who sacrificed their lunch hour to support Kavanaugh’s confirmation, urged Jones to listen. One Republican elected official summarized their ask best, saying Jones “needs to be in line with the very fiber of this state and vote for Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court.”
The rally occurred in front of a bus, which is owned and operated by an Alabamian and emblazoned with the phrase “Another Great Justice.” Former state Rep. Paul DeMarco kicked things off and called on Shelby County Republican Chair Joan Reynolds to open the program with prayer. Following the prayer, Jefferson County District Attorney Mike Anderton led the large crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance and a local resident sang a powerful rendition of the National Anthem.
Then, the CWA’s National Field Director, Janae Stracke, got down to the heart of the matter and discussed how pivotal the Supreme Court is to the nation and “generations and generations” to come.
Stracke outlined to the crowd what happened after the late Justice Antonin Scalia – “a true constitutionalist” – passed away in 2016. The CWA immediately called an emergency meeting and got to work, helping Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to ensure that an excellent jurist would fill the “pivotal” vacancy.
This occurred as the 2016 election cycle was in full swing, and Stracke acknowledged that the Supreme Court was the main reason many Americans voted for Donald Trump, citing a statistic that one-in-five “voted because of the Supreme Court.”
Stracke explained that Trump was the only presidential candidate in history to release a list of potential judicial nominees – an action that she praised extensively. She told the crowd that then-candidate Trump “gave people hope and trust of knowing exactly what they were going to get.”
For the CWA, this is exactly what Trump has done. He kept his promise to them first by nominating Judge Neil Gorsuch to replace Scalia and now again with Judge Kavanaugh.
“We finally have someone that says, ‘this is what I’m going to do,’ and then does it,” Stracke said.
It is a time of great excitement for conservatives nationwide, with Stracke calling the opportunity to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy with Kavanaugh, “a gift from God, an answer to prayer, and a blessing.”
She also warned Alabamians to beware of contrived opposition to the confirmation, reminding the crowd that liberals were already saying they would oppose President Trump’s nominee even before Kavanaugh was chosen.
“We couldn’t ask for a better nominee,” Stracke emphasized.
She went through a litany of positive traits about Kavanaugh, including his status as a “family man,” intellectual giant and judge who applies the law as written.
After Stracke spoke, state Rep. Jim Carns gave a brief address. Carns was the Trump campaign’s Alabama Co-Chair and on the stage for the famous, early Mobile rally that acted as a springboard to his candidacy.
Carns raved about Trump’s performance since assuming office and listed off some of his accomplishments, including over four percent GDP growth, a “soaring” stock market, record lows in unemployment and ending burdensome, job-killing regulations from the Obama Administration.
“However, I have to give the [Democrats] credit, because they did do one thing,” Carns said, drawing the crowd in.
“They stopped us having plastic straws,” Carns continued, as laughter erupted. “That’s their claim to victory.”
Carns then joined in the mounting calls for Jones to confirm Trump’s nominee, saying the recently-elected Alabama senator “needs to be in line with the very fiber of this state and vote for Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court.”
The keynote speech of the day was delivered by Penny Nance, CWA’s CEO and president. She started by thanking DeMarco for helping to put the event together and transitioned into an inspiring speech on the importance of grassroots advocacy.
“Ladies – this is your moment,” Nance said, rallying the dozens of Alabama women in attendance.
She spoke extensively about the importance of women’s voices being heard in modern America, alluding to the fact that the mainstream media does not celebrate Christian women’s perspectives, but instead elevates the Hollywood idea of what a woman should be.
“The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I’m a Christian does make me a different kind of woman,” Nance emphasized.
Nance, a prominent national voice who frequently appears on Fox News as a guest, talked about how important confirming Kavanaugh is to the nation’s present and future.
“The question is whether we’ll be the constitutionally driven, proudly patriotic nation that our Founding Fathers fought for … or whether we’ll fade to the left and become more of a European, socialist nation,” Nance warned.
She and Stracke repeatedly expressed that CWA only supports constitutionalist nominees. Nance even added that they want nominees “who want to be judges, not senators.” From their perspective, Kavanaugh is “another great justice,” just like Gorsuch.
“Brett Kavanaugh is a man of character, he is over-qualified … and is recognized for his intellect, his discretion and his judgment and he’s a constitutionalist,” Nance outlined.
She closed with a final rallying call to the attendees and all supporters of Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
“Go home, call your friends, and make sure they call Doug Jones. Call him, email him, go to his office, go to his town hall meetings – and make sure your voices are heard that he must vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh,” Nance urged.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
