Brett Kavanaugh appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September 2018 as President Donald Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court. The cartoon depicts him in black robes holding a set of scales of justice that hang unevenly from a gold hanger. One scale sits higher while the other hangs lower, and Kavanaugh gestures with his free hand.


The speech bubble reads "LET'S NOT GET HUNG UP ON HYPOTHETICALS..." The image references repeated exchanges during the hearings in which Kavanaugh declined to discuss how he might rule on specific cases such as Roe v. Wade or gun-control measures. Senators from both parties pressed the nominee on these topics, but he consistently described them as hypotheticals that should not be addressed in advance.


The confirmation process occurred after the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy and followed the earlier appointment of Justice Neil Gorsuch. At the time, Democrats expressed concern that a new conservative majority could shift the court's direction on reproductive rights and other issues. The cartoon uses the unbalanced scales to illustrate doubts about whether the nominee would approach those questions with full impartiality.