Hillary Clinton warned the confirmation of Supreme Court justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh could return the U.S. to the "1850s" in a speech to the American Federation of Teachers on Friday.
Clinton paused to say she wanted to discuss President Donald Trump's nomination of Kavanaugh, a D.C. Circuit Court Judge, leading to jeers.
"This nomination holds out the threat of devastating consequences for worker's rights, civil rights, LGBT rights, women's rights, including those to make our own health decisions," she said, according to The Daily Caller. "It is a blatant attempt by this administration to shift the balance of the Court for decades and to reverse decades of progress."
"You know, I used to worry that they wanted to turn the clock back to the 1950s," she added. "Now I worry they want to turn it back to the 1850s. These will be urgent fights. The stakes could not be higher."
Slavery was still legal in the 1850s, the decade before the Civil War.
It's the latest strong rhetoric deployed against Kavanaugh by progressives, who have warned Kavanaugh is a threat to abortion rights, women's rights, health care and more since his nomination was announced. Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D.) tweeted his nomination "will threaten the lives of millions of Americans," and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said he will fight his confirmation with all his strength.
Clinton has watched Trump now make two nominations to the Supreme Court following her defeat in the 2016 presidential election. Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch last year, who was confirmed to the vacancy left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.