Brett Kavanaugh Is Trying to Walk Back "Kavanaugh Stops." Too Late.

"In September, the justice wrote that Hispanic residents' "apparent ethnicity" could be a "relevant factor" in federal agents' decision to stop them and demand proof of citizenship. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection promptly seized upon his opinion as a license to stop any Hispanic person on the basis of race—often with excessive, even sadistic force—and detain them until they proved their lawful presence."

"Lawyers also provided courts with evidence that Kavanaugh had sanitized the reality of this practice to the point of fiction. The justice claimed that these were "brief investigative stops" and that any lawful resident would be "promptly" released. In truth, federal agents brutalized, kidnapped, and tormented people- including many U.S. citizens -simply because of their ethnicity, even after they asserted legal status."

"Now it appears that Kavanaugh has some regrets. Last Tuesday, the justice backtracked from his previous position without quite acknowledging the retreat. He did so in a concurrence to the Supreme Court's decision to block President Donald Trump's deployment of the National Guard-a case that does not even directly concern "Kavanaugh stops." In a footnote, he declared that race and ethnicity could not be "considerations" when officers make "immigration stops or arrests.""

Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that Hispanic residents' 'apparent ethnicity' could be a 'relevant factor' for federal agents deciding whom to stop and demand proof of citizenship. ICE and CBP used that view to stop Hispanic people based on race, often using excessive force and detaining them until they proved lawful presence. Law professor Anil Kalhan called these encounters 'Kavanaugh stops,' and courts received evidence that the practice spread nationwide. Kavanaugh had described the stops as 'brief investigative stops' with 'prompt' release of lawful residents. Federal agents nonetheless brutalized, kidnapped, and tormented people, including U.S. citizens. Kavanaugh later filed a concurrence footnote stating race and ethnicity could not be 'considerations' in immigration stops or arrests.

Read at Slate Magazine