Bob Flanders in 2018 RI Senate race

On Principles & Values: Let both sides be heard in Supreme Court Kavanaugh hearings

"I want to express my respect for the courage that it took for Dr. [Christine Blasey] Ford to tell her story in front of a national audience,? Flanders said. "Both Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh deserved to have their perspectives heard in a fair and impartial hearing. Unfortunately, they were not given that opportunity.

"Sheldon Whitehouse's juvenile questioning about high school yearbooks and flatulation were a new low in our nation's judicial nomination process. Rather than follow his Constitutional obligation to `advise & consent,' Sheldon has decided to deceive & beleaguer."

Asked what next steps he believes the Senate should take, Flanders said he supports the one-week delay [for an FBI investigation into Ford's allegations].

On Civil Rights: Supreme Court allows religious exceptions to same-sex rights

Flanders responds, "I disagree with your contention that I mischaracterized the decision in the `cake case' when I stated that the Supreme Court supported the baker's right to refuse to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. The case was not decided on procedural grounds. The Court ruled that the baker's religious objections to creating such a cake [fell under] the First Amendment's free exercise of religion clause."

On Families & Children: Senate candidates accused of sexual abuse should withdraw

On Gun Control: Ban devices that turn guns into massive killing machines

On Government Reform: Let out-of-state attorneys handle state ethics cases

"I would have granted the pro hac vice motion because the moving party, Attorney Small, satisfied the conditions established by our rule for admission, one of which is that the motion should be granted "for good cause shown." Here, the Ethics Commission established good cause by recounting the various problems it had experienced in attempting to retain qualified R.I. attorneys to handle ethics investigations. The problems referenced by the commission in obtaining qualified and non-conflicted local counsel to handle this sensitive investigation were legitimate and established good cause for it to retain a qualified, nonresident attorney."

On Government Reform: Disallow legislators from serving on Lottery Commission

Justice Flanders upheld that both Constitutions include "limitations" on the powers of the legislative branch. Flanders upheld that both Constitutions grant the executive--the governor in Rhode Island, the president in Washington--at least some power over how the laws passed by the legislature are executed.

Flanders ruled that, "the people of Rhode Island will likely be plunged into a long dark age of subjugation to unchecked, unbalanced and unlimited governmental powers exercised by controlling members and subparts of the legislature--notwithstanding a State Constitution that was enacted to prevent such a catastrophe from ever occurring."